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Rtomtioe Coition 


THE LEATHER STOCKING TALES 

BY 

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 


VOLUME IV 

THE PIONEERS 


<©rber of tfce 
Seatfter'&tocftmjj (ftafejs 

* 

The Deerslayer. 

The Last of the Mohicans. 
The Pathfinder. 

The Pioneers. 

The Prairie. 








































AAS 


■ 




THE PIONEERS 


OR 

THE SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA 
% Dcscnptibc €ale 

BY 

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 

WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION BY SUSAN FENIMORE COOPER 


Extremes of habits, manners, time, and space, 
Brought close together, here stood face to face, 
And gave at once a contrast to the view, 

That other lands and ages never knew. 

Paulding. 



J ft 
I * » 

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> > » 

BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
($be Uibcrgidc ptxs?, Cambridge 
1899 


.1 





COPYRIGHT, 1876, BY SUSAN 
FENIMORE COOPER ; 1898, BY 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


y\? OVrlCt 'is'p * 

OCT 29 1898 ) 

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BVQ COPIES RECEIVED- 


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JOWJi! 


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V OFFICE OF THE 

62490 OCT 241898 


INTRODUCTION 


By SUSAN FENIMORE COOPER 


“ The Pioneers ” was the first, in point of time, of 
the Leather-Stocking Tales, haying been published in 
1822. 

The “ Spy ” had just appeared, and had met with a 
warm reception. The glow of success was still fresh 
upon the author when he again decided to try 11 one more 
book.” The new narrative, like that which preceded it, 
was, in one sense, to he connected with the history of the 
country ; it should follow the first steps of civilization in 
its conquests over the wilderness, and its scenes should he 
enacted in the valley of the Otsego, the home of his own 
boyhood. His first childish recollections were all closely 
connected with the forests and hills, the fresh clearings, 
new fields and homes on the hanks of the Otsego. It was 
here his hoy’s strength was first tried in those sports to 
which gray-headed men, amid the scenes of later life, 
delight to look hack. From the first how and arrow, kite 
and hall, to later feats in riding, fishing, swimming, skat- 
ing, all were connected, during the first ten years of his 
life, with his highland home. Healthy, and remarkably 
active, he delighted in every exercise of the kind — a 
brave, blithe-hearted, impetuous, but most generous and 
upright lad, as he is remembered by those who knew him 
in childhood. Here also his education began. His first 


VI 


THE PIONEERS 


lessons were learned by the side of an elder sister, an un- 
commonly lovely and engaging person, who was lost to her 
family at the age of twenty-two hy a most painful acci- 
dent, a fall from her horse. Her young pupil and brother 
nevet spoke of this sister without emotion, to the very last 
months of his own life. 

But school days soon began for him in earnest. “ Mas- 
ter ” Oliver Cory kept the village school at that date, a man 
remarkably well qualified for the honorable post — labo- 
rious, upright, firm in discipline, yet patient and kindly 
by nature. His training of the boys was excellent. Every 
Saturday was devoted to religious instruction, while morals 
and manners were the subject of careful though quiet at- 
tention on his part. He took pleasure in being called 
“ Master ” Cory, a title generally conceded to him. The 
school was kept in an ambitious edifice called “ the Acad- 
emy,” one of those tasteless buildings which afflict all 
new countries. It served many different purposes in its 
day — political meetings, religious services, and the public 
courts were held under its roof, varied by an occasional 
ball. Those were not the times for lectures and concerts. 
Master Cory and his pupils, however, seem to have had a 
taste for music. Judge Cooper had brought from Philadel- 
phia a large, upright barrel-organ of more than common 
power and dignity of exterior, altogether the most imposing 
musical instrument which had yet found its way to the 
shores of the Otsego ; it was put up in the hall of the 
mansion-house, where for years it went on playing reels 
and country-dances almost every evening, to say nothing 
of its many graver performances. The arrival of this 
organ in the village produced a sensation which might be 
compared to the appearance of some brilliant musical star, 
some prima donna assoluta, in a large town at the present 
day. When carefully put in its position and duly prepared 


INTRODUCTION 


Vll 


for performance, a sort of rehearsal was held. The wea- 
ther was warm, the broad doors and ample windows of the 
hall were all open as usual, and as Master Cory found to 
his cost. The Academy stood on the street adjoining the 
grounds of Otsego Hall, and as the first strains of " Hail 
Columbia ” poured into the school-room, the effect on the 
children was electrical ; never before had such music been 
heard by them. Jenny Lind could scarcely have delighted 
the students of a German university in a higher degree. 
Amazement, inattention, confusion succeeded each other 
until disorder threatened the whole school. Fortunately 
Master Cory was equal to the emergency ; he saw clearly 
the only course to be taken : “ Boys, that organ is a re- 
markable instrument ; you have never heard the like of it 
before. I give you half an hour’s intermission. Go into 
the street, and listen to the music ! ” 

But Master Cory and his pupils were not always con- 
tent to play audience. They chose to be performers 
sometimes. Annual exhibitions took place, during which 
the Academy was thronged to hear the speeches of Corio- 
lanus or Othello, of Brutus and Cassius, delivered by raw 
lads from the village and adjoining farms, equipped in the 
local militia uniform — hats of the date of 1776, blue 
coats faced with red, and matross swords — exhibitions 
which are still a subject of merriment to those who re- 
member them. The future author of “ The Pioneers,” 
then a child of seven or eight, was much commended on 
one of these occasions for his moving recitation of the 
“ Beggar’s Petition,” in the character of an old man, 
wrapped in a faded cloak, and bending over his staff. It 
chanced more than half a century later, that one summer’s 
day as good old Master Cory, then more than fourscore 
years of age, was crossing the village bridge, driven by a 
relative, he met his former pupil going out to his farm at 


Vlll 


THE PIONEERS 


the Chalet. Mr. Cooper, then already suffering from the 
first stages of his fatal illness, no sooner saw the venerable 
white-haired old man than he stopped his horse, got down 
from his wagon, and went to shake hands with the old 
Master. But Master Cory, with a high estimate of liter- 
ary merit, natural, perhaps, to one of his former pursuits, 
hut which others might not have felt, with old-fashioned 
courtesy also left his wagon, unwilling to remain seated 
while his old pupil stood on foot by his side. Most 
kindly was the greeting on both sides. One who was 
present at this meeting on the bridge spoke of it after- 
wards as very pleasing. After a little chat Master Cory 
was persuaded to return to the Hall, where he and his old 
pupil passed a pleasant morning together, talking over old 
times. But there was one point on which Master Cory 
was sensitive ; he would not allow even a smile in connec- 
tion with the " Beggar’s Petition.” It is to be feared 
that even after the lapse of half a century the good old 
man still indulged in certain emotions of undue pride when 
dwelling on the correctness of his little pupil’s pathetic 
performance on that occasion. He evidently considered 
it as high tragedy. 

After a year or two at the Academy, however, a school 
of higher aims in the way of instruction had been deemed 
necessary. The youngest son of the house was sent from 
home. This eventful journey was made under the care of 
a worthy farmer of the neighborhood, who was carrying 
toward the Hudson a load of wheat from the new fields of 
Otsego, then considered a great grain country. The route 
taken was the turnpike, a great western thoroughfare at 
that day, running between the valley of the Hudson and 
the Chenango Biver. This road had been only recently 
completed as far as Cherry Valley, and wonders were ex- 
pected from it. The young traveler had heard this new 


INTRODUCTION 


IX 


triumph of civilization so much discussed at his father’s 
table, that his curiosity to see it was extreme. Directors 
and stockholders were endeavoring to solve the difficult 
question as to what should be done with the tolls, a divi- 
dend of ten per cent, being all that was allowed by the 
charter ; stone bridges were planned, and certain visionary 
spirits even talked of lighting the road at night as a means 
of disposing of the surplus fund ! At length the school- 
boy’s eyes were gratified with a sight of this famous turn- 
pike — its magnificent breadth, its scientific construction, 
the directness of its course, its excellent condition, when 
compared with the rude corduroy track by which it had 
been reached, became very impressive indeed. As they 
trotted slowly along, the farmer pointed out among other 
marvels the taverns springing up within sight of each 
other, throughout the sixty miles between Albany and 
Lake Otsego — “ A tavern for every mile ! ” as it was 
boastfully proclaimed, a fact certainly remarkable, showing 
clearly as it does the very rapid strides with which civi- 
lization moved through the forest at that period. A long 
train of farm wagons, heavily laden with the precious 
wheat, then very high in value owing to the great Euro- 
pean wars, was rolling slowly eastward. Emigrant teams, 
crowded with growing families and household gear, were 
moving in the opposite direction toward the Lake shore, 
bearing with them the promise of prosperity to the new 
road and country. But alas for the great turnpike ! Its 
track is now quiet and all but deserted, its toll-gates have 
been thrown down, its stone bridges were never built, its 
lamps were never lighted. Traffic now rushes swiftly over 
the iron rails, both northward and southward, and the old 
highways have become mere by-paths. 

In 1798, however, there was movement enough on the 
turnpike to render it no unworthy approach to the capital 


Xll 


THE PIONEER 


original ; in all that gives worth, and dignity, and poetry, 
and soul to the conception, it comes in full freshness and 
freedom direct from the mind of the author. 

Other figures filling the canvas of “ The Pioneers ” have 
been said to have once lived on the same ground. But 
there is no one instance in which this assertion is entirely 
true. Some vague resemblance may be traced here and 
there, but in most instances the personages are wholly fic- 
titious. Classes were represented, not individuals. Chin- 
gachgook, old Indian John, is entirely an invention. In- 
dians occasionally came in family groups, or small parties, 
to the banks of the Otsego, but it is not known that any 
one individual lingered long enough to fill the position 
ascribed to Chingachgook in “ The Pioneers.” The num- 
ber of foreigners who collected at the new village on Lake 
Otsego, in its early years, was quite remarkable. The 
political convulsions in Europe at that period were, no 
doubt, the cause of this movement. There were French, 
Germans, Poles, and colonists from Barbadoes, Jamaica, 
and Martinique found on the Lake shores. A French 
emigre from Martinique actually kept a small shop in the 
Main Street for several years. His singular name of Le 
Quoi was borrowed by the author for the fictitious charac- 
ter in “ The Pioneers.” Quite a number of French trav- 
elers also appeared from time to time at this remote ham- 
let, a frontier post of civilization at that date. 

In connection with this Introduction to “ The Pioneers,” 
a partially fictitious sketch of a state of things now passed 
away forever in the same region of country, the reader 
may be interested by a few passages relating to the actual 
early settlement of Otsego County. These passages may 
soon claim, in a small way, something of the dignity of 
history ; they were written about seventy years since, by 
Judge Cooper, the father of James Fenimore Cooper, 


INTRODUCTION 


xni 


and the founder of the little colony at the source of the 
Susquehanna. About the year 1805, Mr. William Samp- 
son, a prominent lawyer of New York, an Irish exile, and 
companion of Emmet, applied to Judge Cooper for infor- 
mation relating to the settlement of new lands. A series 
of letters were written in answer to Mr. Sampson’s appli- 
cation. After Judge Cooper’s death, in 1809, these letters 
were embodied in a pamphlet by Mr. Sampson, and pub- 
lished in Dublin, for the benefit of Irish emigrants, under 
the title of “A Guide to the Wilderness.” The pam- 
phlet has never been reprinted in this country. The copy 
once owned at Otsego Hall has been lost. Mr. Fenimore 
Cooper once accidentally met with the pamphlet in the 
hands of an emigrant, on board ship, in crossing the ocean. 
The writer of this introduction is indebted for the copy 
now in her possession to the kindness of a kinsman of 
her father, Mr. W. Wager Cooper, of Cambridge. This 
historical record of facts forms a commentary on the ficti- 
tious narrative not without interest at the present day. 

LETTER FROM JUDGE COOPER TO WILLIAM SAMPSON, ESQ. 

“ Sir, — I shall cheerfully answer the queries you have 
put to me. The manly way in which you have challenged 
me, and the good sense you have shown upon a subject 
on which you can have no experience, and the object I 
perceive you to have at heart, that of procuring informa- 
tion in a matter interesting to your countrymen, do you 
honor, and make it a pleasure for me to satisfy so fair a 
curiosity. . . . 

“ I shall first make the general supposition that either 
a wealthy individual, or else a company, purchase a large 
tract of land, say fifty thousand acres. The purchaser, or 
some one strongly interested in the purchase, should go 
upon the spot, and give public notice when he means to 


XIV 


THE PIONEERS 


open the sales. The conditions should be advertised, and 
notice given that every person desirous of buying should 
have as much or as little land as he chose, on a credit of 
seven or ten years, paying annual interest. The price will 
naturally vary, according to soil and situation. 

“ It should be distinctly understood that the whole tract 
is open for settlement, without any reserve on the part of 
the landlord, as nothing is more discouraging than any ap- 
pearance in him of views distinct from the prosperity of 
the whole, and this would be evident if in the very out- 
set he reserved any part, in contemplation of a future ad- 
vance, at the expense of the labor of the original settlers, 
to whose advantage these reserved tracts had not contrib- 
uted. The reason is plain ; the first difficulties are the 
greatest, and it 'is only by combination and cooperation 
that they can be surmounted. The more the settlers are 
in number, the more hands can be brought to effect those 
works which cannot be executed by a few, such as the 
making of roads and bridges, and other incidents to the 
cultivation of the wilderness, which are impossible to in- 
dividuals, but which numbers render practicable and easy. 

“ Besides, he who comes to better his condition by em- 
barking in such an enterprise, would find it no relief from 
his present poverty to be doomed to a life of savage soli- 
tude ; he will still desire the society of his species, and 
the ordinary comforts of life ; he will look for some re- 
ligious institution, some school for his children. There 
must be mechanics to build houses and erect mills, and 
for other useful or necessary purposes. Where there are 
a number of settlers, each bearing his proportion of the 
labor, and contributing to the expense, these things arise 
of course, but it would be very discouraging to a few scat- 
tered settlers to reflect that they were toiling under all 
the hardships and disadvantages of a new and arduous 


INTRODUCTION 


XV 


undertaking, while others, who had contributed nothing, 
should afterwards come in and reap all the advantages of 
their activity. The reserved tracts, therefore, serving only 
to separate them from each other, and depriving them of 
the comforts of society and the advantages of cooperation, 
would be sources of just discontent, and the landlord who 
seemed to harbor the ungenerous project of trafficking with 
the future profits of their industry, and to give all his care 
to his own interest, without any sympathy with them, 
would become deservedly an object of distrust and jeal- 
ousy ; his influence would cease, and that confidence which 
could alone animate and invigorate a difficult enterprise, 
once vanishing, nothing but failure could ensue. 

11 Thus it is the advantage of the landlord to reserve no 
part, if he can possibly dispose of it. Sometimes a man 
of large property, with an enterprising spirit, will seek for 
a tract suitable to his means and his ambition. Such a 
one may have friends and connections who may want cour- 
age to face the first difficulties or venture on untried ways, 
but whom he hopes to draw after him by example. It is 
of great importance to promote the success of such a per- 
son, and he will be justly entitled to kindness and sup- 
port. His task will be to smooth the way for others. As 
soon as he is himself seated, his next wish will be to draw 
around him a neighborhood of relatives and friends whose 
habits are congenial to his own. He will be repaid for his 
labor and risk by selling at a small advance. Such a man, 
besides that he will come provided with stock and capital, 
will be useful as it were to sound the horn and proclaim 
the settlement, and will be a new centre of attraction. 

“ But while we acknowledge the importance of the 
wealthy undertaker, we must not despise the offer of the 
poor man. He can never be insignificant who is willing 
to add his labor to the common stock ; for the interest of 


XVI 


THE PIONEERS 


every individual, from the richest landholder to the poor- 
est settler, contributes to the great primary object of caus- 
ing the wilderness to bloom and fructify ; and each man 
prospers as he contributes to the advantage of his neigh- 
bors. 

“ With respect to the lands, although they will naturally 
vary in quality, I never, in the first instance, make any 
difference in price, but leave the matter to regulate itself. 
In the beginning, the poorer settler will refuse the rougher 
spots, and rightly, as they will yield him no immediate 
subsistence. I therefore leave them until the period when 
the timber they afford shall become valuable for the pur- 
poses of fencing and for fuel ; and by the simple measure 
of letting things take their own course, I find my interest 
and that of the whole community promoted, and in no in- 
stance have the rough grounds and the swamps failed to 
be eventually most profitable to me ; nay, in fifteen years’ 
time their value has increased sevenfold. 

“The poor man, and his class is most numerous, will 
generally undertake about one hundred acres. The best 
mode of dealing with him is to grant him the fee-simple 
by deed, and secure the purchase-money by a mortgage on 
the land conveyed to him. He then feels himself, if I 
may use the phrase, as a man upon record. His views 
extend themselves to his posterity, and he contemplates 
with pleasure their settlement on the estate he has created, 
a sentiment ever grateful to the heart of man. His spirit 
is enlivened ; his industry is quickened ; every new object 
he attains brings a new ray of hope and courage ; he builds 
himself a barn, and a better habitation ; plants his fruit 
trees, and lays out his garden ; he clears away the trees 
until they, which were the first obstacles to his improve- 
ments, becoming scarcer, become more valuable, and he is 
at length as anxious to preserve as he was at first to de- 


INTRODUCTION 


XVll 


stroy them. He no longer feels the weight of debt, for 
having the fee he can sell at an improved value, nor is he 
bound to remain against his will. 

“ Not so if he had been bound by special contracts and 
conditions, subjecting him to the forfeiture of his land, and 
with it of his labors. Gloomy apprehensions then seize 
upon his mind ; the bright view of independence is clouded ; 
his habits of thought become sullen and cheerless, and he 
is unable to soar above the idea of perpetual poverty. 

“ Thus by the adoption of a rational plan, it appears that 
the interests of all parties are made to coincide. The settler 
sleeps in security, from the certainty of his possessions, the 
landlord is safe in the mortgage he holds, and the State 
profits by the success of each, in the increase of its wealth 
and population. 

u A moderate price, long credit, a deed in fee, and a 
friendly landlord are infallible inducements to a numerous 
settlement ; and where there is much people there will he 
trade ; where there is trade there will he money ; and where 
there is money the landlord will succeed. But he should 
be ever in the midst of the settlers, aiding and promoting 
every beneficial enterprise. 

“ In rural phrase we may compare the poor settler to 
the creature of draft. Unsustained, overloaded, and op- 
pressed, he yields no profit ; well treated, in good heart, 
and gently driven, his labor is lighter, and his profit more. 
It is no otherwise with man. He can bear so much, and 
no more ; if forced beyond that, his spirits will finally sink 
under oppression ; whereas by timely aids, and encouraging 
words from a landlord who has his confidence, and whom 
he feels to be his friend, he will perform wonders and ex- 
ceed his own hopes. 

“ You have desired to know something of my own pro- 
ceedings, and, since I am to speak of myself, I can nowhere 


XV111 


THE PIONEERS 


better introduce the subject than now, in proof of what I 
have asserted. 

“ I began with the disadvantage of a small capital, and 
the incumbrance of a large family, and yet I have already 
settled more acres than any man in America. There are 
forty thousand souls now holding, directly or indirectly, 
under me ; and I trust that not one among so many can 
justly impute to me any act resembling oppression. I am 
now descending into the vale of life, and I must acknow- 
ledge that I look back with self-complacency upon what I 
have done, and am proud of having been an instrument in 
reclaiming such large and fruitful tracts from the waste of 
the creation. And I question whether that sensation is 
not now a recompense more grateful to me than all the 
other profits I have reaped. Your good sense and know- 
ledge of the world will excuse this seeming boast ; if it be 
vain, we must all have our vanities, but it will at least 
serve to show that industry has its reward and age its 
pleasures, and thus become an encouragement to others to 
persevere and prosper. 

“ In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of 
Otsego, where there existed not an inhabitant, nor any 
trace of a road ; I was alone, three hundred miles from 
home, without bread, meat, or food of any kind ; fire and 
fishing-tackle were my only means of subsistence. I caught 
trout in the brook, and roasted them on the ashes. My 
horse fed on the grass that grew on the edge of the waters. 
I laid me down to sleep in my watch-coat, nothing but the 
melancholy wilderness about me. In this way I explored 
the country, formed my plans of future settlements, and 
meditated upon the spot where a place of trade, or a future 
village, should afterwards be established. 

“ In May, 1786, I opened the sales of 40,000 acres, 
which in sixteen days were all taken up by the poorer 


INTRODUCTION 


xix 


order of men. I soon after established a store, and went 
to live among them, and continued to do so until 1790 , 
when I brought on my family. For the ensuing four years 
the scarcity of provisions was a serious calamity ; the 
country was mountainous, there were neither roads nor 
bridges. 

“ But the greatest discouragement lay in the extreme 
poverty of the people, none of whom had the means of 
clearing more than a small spot in the middle of the thick 
and lofty woods, so that their grain grew chiefly in the 
shade ; their maize did not ripen ; their wheat was blasted ; 
and the little they did gather they had no mill to grind 
within twenty miles’ distance. Not one in twenty had 
a horse, and the way lay through rapid streams, across 
swamps, or over bogs. They had neither provisions to 
take with them, nor money to purchase them ; nor, if they 
had, were there any to be found. If the father of a family 
went abroad to labor for bread, it cost him three times its 
value before he could bring it home, and all the business 
on his farm stood still until his return. 

“ I resided among them, and saw too clearly how bad 
their condition was. I erected a store-house, and during 
each winter filled it with large quantities of grain pur- 
chased in distant places. I procured from my friend 
Henry Drinker a credit for a large quantity of sugar-kettles ; 
he also lent me some potash kettles, which we transported 
as best we could, sometimes by partial roads on sleighs, 
and sometimes over the ice. By these means I established 
potash works among the settlers, and made them debtors 
for their bread and laboring utensils. I also gave them 
credit for their maple sugar and potashes at a price that 
would bear transportation, and the first year after the adop- 
tion of this plan I collected in one mass forty-three hogs- 
heads of sugar and three hundred barrels of pearl ashes. 


XX 


THE PIONEERS 


worth about nine thousand dollars. This kept the people 
together, and the country soon assumed a new face. 

<c I had not funds of my own sufficient for the opening 
of new roads, but I collected the people at convenient sea- 
sons, and by joint efforts we were able to throw bridges 
over the deep streams and to make in the cheapest manner 
such roads as suited our then humble purposes. 

“In the winter preceding the summer of 1789, grain 
rose in Albany to a price before unknown. The demand 
swept all the granaries of the Mohawk country. The 
number of beginners who depended upon it for their bread 
greatly aggravated the evil, and a famine ensued, which 
will never be forgotten by those who, though now in the 
enjoyment of ease and comfort, were then afflicted with 
the cruelest of wants. 

" In the month of April, 1789, I arrived among them 
with several loads of provisions, destined for my own use 
and that of laborers I had brought with me for certain 
necessary operations ; but in a few days all was gone, and 
there remained not one pound of salt meat nor a single 
biscuit. Many were reduced to such distress as to live 
upon the roots of wild leeks ; some, more fortunate, lived 
upon milk, while others supported nature by drinking a 
syrup made of maple sugar and water. The quantity of 
leeks they ate had such an effect upon their breath that 
they could be smelled at many paces distance, and when 
they came together it was like cattle that had pastured in 
a garlic field. A man of the name of Betts, mistaking 
some poisonous herb for a leek, ate it, and died in conse- 
quence. Judge of my feelings at this epoch, with two 
hundred families about me and not a morsel of bread. 

“ A singular event seemed sent by a good Providence 
to our relief. It was reported to me that unusual shoals 
of fish were seen moving in the clear waters of the Sus- 


INTRODUCTION 


xxi 


quehanna. I went, and was surprised to find they were 
herrings. We made something like a small net, by the 
intertwining of twigs, and by this rude and simple contri- 
vance we were able to take them by thousands. In less 
than ten days each family had an ample supply, with 
plenty of salt. I also obtained from the Legislature, then 
in session, seventeen hundred bushels of corn. This we 
packed on horses’ backs, and on our arrival made a distri- 
bution among the families, in proportion to the number of 
individuals of which each was composed. 

“ This was the first settlement I made, and the first 
attempted after the Revolution. It was, of course, at- 
tended with the greatest difficulties ; nevertheless, to its 
success many others owed their origin. It was besides 
the roughest land in all the State, and the most difficult 
of cultivation of all that has been settled ; but for many 
past years it has produced everything necessary to the sup- 
port and comfort of man. It maintains at present eight 
thousand souls, with schools, academies, churches, meeting- 
houses, turnpike roads, and a market-town. It annually 
yields to commerce large droves of fine oxen, great quanti- 
ties of wheat and other grain, abundance of pork, potash 
in barrels, and other provisions. Merchants with large 
capitals, and all kinds of useful mechanics, reside upon it ; 
the waters are stocked with fish, the air is salubrious, and 
the country thriving and happy. When I contemplate all 
this, and, above all, when I see these good old settlers 
meet together, and hear them talk of past hardships, of 
which I bore my share, and compare the misery they then 
endured with the comforts they now enjoy, my emotions 
border upon weakness which manhood can scarcely avow. 

“ Some rich theorists let the property they purchase lie 
unoccupied and unproductive, and speculate upon a full 
indemnity from the future rise in property. But I can 


XXII 


THE PIONEERS 


assert from practical experience that it is better for a poor 
man to pay forty shillings an acre to a landlord who heads 
the settlement, and draws people around him by good 
plans for their advancement and convenience, than to re- 
ceive an hundred acres gratis from one of these wealthy 
theorists. If fifty thousand acres he settled so that there 
is but one man upon a thousand acres, there can he no one 
convenience of life attainable ; neither road, school, church, 
nor any of those advantages without which man’s life 
would resemble that of a wild beast. 

“ Of this I had full proof in the circumstances of the 
Burlington Company. They were rich, and purchased a 
tract of sixty-nine thousand acres, and made a deed of gift 
of one hundred acres out of each thousand to actual set- 
tlers ; and this they were bound to do, in compliance with 
a condition of the King’s Patent. They provided those 
settlers with many articles of husbandry. But the agent 
very soon returned, and not long afterwards the settlers 
followed, saying they could not support themselves so far 
in the woods in that scattered situation. 

u I then resided in Burlington, and, when I undertook 
to make the settlement on those very lands where so rich 
a company had failed, it was thought a romantic undertak- 
ing for a man unprovided with funds to attempt what 
gratuitous donations had not been able to achieve. Nev- 
ertheless I succeeded, and for that very reason that I made 
no partial gifts, but sold the whole, at a moderate price, 
with easy payments, having for myself a handsome profit, 
and people were readily induced to come when they saw a 
number of cooperators, and the benefits of association. 

“ But let me be clearly understood in this, that no man 
who does not possess a steady mind, a sober judgment, 
fortitude, perseverance, and, above all, common sense, can 
expect to reap the reward which to him who possesses 
these qualifications is almost certain. . . . 


INTRODUCTION xxiii 

“ In all these countries the ground is throughout the 
winter covered with snow, and wherever there is most 
snow in winter there is most grass and most wheat in 
summer. The snow is emphatically and truly called ‘ the 
poor man’s manure.’ In climates where there is alternate 
rain and frost the root perishes. Not so with us. It is 
best to sow late, hut not too late, for that also has its 
risks. It is a saying among old experienced farmers, ‘ If 
you get a good crop from late seed, do not tell it to your 
sons.’ In general the seed ought to he put in the ground 
from the 10th to the 20th of September. When improve- 
ments were rare in Otsego County the frost destroyed our 
fall crops, and no month passed over without frost ; but 
since the surface has been laid open to the sun, we are no 
longer in fear that our crops will be injured by the au- 
tumnal frosts, and for the last two years I have succeeded 
in peaches. . . . 

“ The mutton of this hilly country is fat and juicy, and 
very delicate ; the wool fair, and the fleece heavy. I have 
observed generally that the farther we go north in the 
United States, the better we find both beef and mutton ; 
and the farther we go south, the smaller and sweeter the 
pork. We cannot make hams equal to those of Virginia 
and Maryland. Horses grow larger and are more robust 
in the Southern States. The air with us being probably 
too sharp for their growth, the animal is small hut 
hardy. . . . 

“ Our taxes are so light that a rich man will readily 
spend more in one or two entertainments than the amount 
of all his taxes ; and generally his voluntary donations for 
benevolent and useful institutions are ten times more than 
the law requires of him. Some poor men probably spend 
as much needlessly in taverns as the law demands of them 
for every public purpose. The fair average tax for a well- 


XXIV 


THE PIONEEKS 


seated farmer on a hundred acres is about the produce of 
one sixth of an acre per annum. Large tracts of forest 
lands pay about twelve cents per hundred acres, more or 
less, according to the situation, the soil, and the wants of 
the country. . . . 

" You will probably expect from me some estimate of 
the cost of clearing new lands. If a man is careful of his 
ashes, and profits by the advantage which newly cleared 
lands afford, that of raising his first crop without the ex- 
pense of either ploughing or weeding, he is rather a gainer 
by the wood which he has had to cut down. If a farmer 
hires choppers to clear his land, it will cost him about 
seven dollars and a half per acre. For this sum he will 
have the trees felled and cut into logs of fourteen feet in 
length, and the branches thrown together in heaps, ready 
for burning. If he contracts to have the whole fenced, 
as well as cleared, the common price is twenty-five dol- 
lars per acre, the farmer reserving the ashes for himself. 
Some have their lands cleared for the ashes and the first 
crop. I have myself given the first three crops to have 
the land well inclosed and fitted for the scythe. But in 
every stage of the business one dollar in the hands of a 
thoroughly practical man will reproduce more than ten 
under the management of a theorist. Hence the European 
would do well, instead of following his own whims, or 
acting upon plans, however prudent in his own country, 
impracticable here, to hire a capable and experienced per- 
son for six months, and be guided by him in the mode of 
clearing, planting, sowing, and gathering his crop. It is 
to he observed, also, that one American will clear more 
land in a day than three Europeans. The Irish laborer 
excels with the spade and the flail, but is not a match for 
the American at other country work. In the woods, as 
elsewhere, the Scotch succeed, being frugal, cautious in 


INTRODUCTION 


xxv 


their bargains, .living within their means, and always 
punctual in their engagements. If a Scotchman kills a 
calf, he will take the best of it to market, and husband up 
the price received. If he consumes any part of the meat, 
it will be the coarsest and the cheapest. On the contrary, 
the American will eat the best part himself, and, if he 
sells any, will lay out the money upon some article of 
show. . . . 

“ It is difficult to point out any general rules for the 
direction of a stranger in our country as to the choice of 
lands. In the eastern counties of Pennsylvania, for in- 
stance, the chestnut indicates a lean soil, whereas in the 
western counties of Hew York that wood is found on rich 
and generous land, suited entirely to the growth of wheat. 
Where bass-wood, butternut, the sugar-maple, white ash, 
elm, and tall red beech make the prevailing growth, you 
may be sure of a good soil, both for grain and grass. If 
hemlock is interspersed, the land is not the worse. The 
black walnut is never found but in strong and durable 
ground. The large-topped, short, mossy beech denotes un- 
generous land. The poplar in our climate promises good 
land for wheat. The pitch-pine uniformly bespeaks a thin 
sandy land. 

“ White pine is found on all sorts of ground ; when 
it grows on a plain, the soil is apt to be quick and very 
kindly ; but the stump, being two or three feet in diam- 
eter, will take more time to decay than the tree took to 
grow, owing to its resinous nature. Yet such tracts will 
be among the most valuable on account of the timber. 

“ The alder bush is a sign of a good soil for grass. 
The many kinds of oak grow on as many kinds of soil. 
The large smooth-barked black oak is never found but on 
a good soil ; the large tall white oak only on a clay bot- 
tom. The hickory, where it is a tall tree, is a favorable 


XXVI 


THE PIONEERS 


symptom. Lands which produce spontaneously the spruce 
and the birch are the last taken up. 

“ Limestone is the truest of all indications, and will 
never deceive the man who is in quest of a profitable 
farm. Limestone land is good in all situations. The 
graystone is generally a good token ; but wherever it is 
round, oval, or smooth, like what is called “ the cobbler’s 
lap stone,” and apparently water-worn, that soil will be 
sterile. 

“ To an attentive and practiced observer the running 
waters will afford instruction. If the course of the little 
brook is lively, and the water in time of freshets, or the 
sediment deposited by them, be of a light chocolate color, 
loose and loamy, it proves that the water has passed 
through a good tract of country. Whereas if the water 
is whitish, and there be many large round stones, that 
brook must have had its course through a poor tract. If 
it appears black, it heads in a tamarack or spruce swamp, 
but may pass through much good land, which can always 
be detected by the little banks and shoals formed by its 
deposits here and there. 

“ When a great tree is cut down on poor clay ground, 
and happens to fall upon smaller ones, if they break under 
its weight, it is a proof that the ground is hard and poor ; 
or if, instead of breaking, they be forced up by the roots, 
the roots will be found large, and with much dirt adhering 
to them. But where the tree turns up with small roots, 
the ground is loose and good. Clays will hold manure 
longer than any other soil, but the clay soil, generally 
speaking, fails in a dry season. The three ingredients 
which, when combined, form the most productive of all 
soils, are limestone, the chocolate loam, and dark brown 
sand. Ground so composed will bear rain and drouth, 
and is certain and durable. 


INTRODUCTION 


xxvii 


“ There is a kind of clay which is common in the 
Genesee country. It is of a loose quality ; plants take 
good root in it, and grow of a darker green than in or- 
dinary soil. The wheat raised in those lands has less 
bran, and makes whiter flour, than that raised in the mere 
loam. 

“ Wherever land produces good natural grass it will not 
he easily worn out in tillage. The natural grass of the 
country is the white clover, which shows itself spontane- 
ously very soon after the sunbeams have been let in on 
the earth. It is the bed of pasture, but it is not profit- 
able to mow in a rough bottom, which all new lands must 
have. The farmer therefore prefers timothy and red clover, 
which grows as high as three feet ; then, although the 
scythe should leave stubble of six inches, a plentiful crop 
of hay is gathered in. After the land has been ploughed 
and leveled, the white clover can be mown, and it makes 
the best of hay. . . . 

“ Throughout this tract of country the wife and daugh- 
ters of the farmers spin and weave their own bed-clothes 
and their common wearing apparel. The cloth made is 
about three quarters of a yard wide and very stout. They 
comb part of the wool and manufacture a worsted cloth for 
petticoats and gowns. They also make a strong, durable 
checkered cloth for aprons. When the fleeces are shorn, 
about the 20th of May, the mistress sets apart the best for 
stockings, and the next best for the clothing of her hus- 
band and sons. The rougher wool is made into blankets. 
About three pounds is the average yield of each fleece when 
washed ; though some sheep will give seven, but rarely as 
much as ten, pounds. . . . 

“No article has a more rapid sale than iron, and no 
establishment is so much needed, or so ardently desired, as 
an iron foundry. Specimens of the richest ore are found 


XXV111 


THE PIONEERS 


close to populous and flourishing settlements, where plen- 
tiful streams and falls offer sites for mills of every kind. 
Excellent scythes and hoes are now made, however, and 
other implements of husbandry. Those imported from 
England are useless here. But cross-cut saws, hand saws, 
planes of all kinds, chisels, turning tools, and trace-chains 
we cannot, as yet, make so good or so cheap as those 
brought from Europe. . . . 

" 1 close my correspondence with a relation of some 
absurdities fatal to success. An Irish gentleman of fortune 
purchased a large tract. Full of ideal superiority and of 
high-minded enterprise, he cast his eyes around and inter- 
preted all he saw into proofs of the weakness of our uncul- 
tivated minds. His plans were immediately formed, and 
he enjoyed in confident expectation the pleasures of self- 
aggrandizement, the glory of rescuing a people from the 
empire of ignorance, and, I dare say, the generous pride of 
doing good. He sent home for what he conceived would 
be instrumental to his success ; he got a supply of tackle, 
blocks, windlasses, and capstans, with other mechanical 
auxiliaries, and with these and a number of men he went 
to work. By the force of men and machines he pulled 
down the trees — some he broke, some he overturned by 
the roots; but in order to effect this he often spent five 
times more labor, independent of his mechanic power, in 
barely chopping through the spreading roots than would 
have served at first to hew down the tree. His pride for- 
bade him to recede, and he cleared a few acres at an enor- 
mous expense. I foresee that you will applaud him, at 
least, for having got rid of those stumps and roots which 
encumber, and in the eye of a European so much disfigure, 
the face of the soil ; but I can assure you that the deep 
holes made by his violent process, and the quantities of 
cold and barren earth which the roots brought up to bury 


INTRODUCTION 


xxix 


or impoverish the layer of rich mould and ashes which is 
the encouraging reward of the settler’s first toil, were 
greater evils than all the stumps and roots would have 
been, if suffered to remain. Besides, it is next to impossi- 
ble to roll the monstrous roots together to be burnt, damp 
as they are, and covered with masses of earth. It is a 
puzzle to be quit of them, after laboring to bring them 
above ground, more indeed than it was before to dispose of 
the whole tree, and especially in a country where the poor- 
est laborer will, in the shortest day, receive half a dollar 
for his work, over and above his provisions. 

“ At length this gentleman found that it was one thing 
to clear his pleasure-grounds in Ireland, and another to 
clear the wilderness in America, and he finished by admit- 
ting that, in matters of husbandry, experience was a better 
guide than either fancy or philosophy, and that none were 
more capable than those whom practice had made profi- 
cients. 

“ Another Irish gentleman bought a larger tract, and 
brought with him a number of his own tenants — his 
patent kitchen, his huntsmen, his hounds, his fishing ap- 
paratus, together with workmen and all that he supposed 
fitting provision for founding a large establishment. He 
did not forget hampers of good claret, so needful to give 
wisdom to a young beginner. Perhaps, sir, this latter 
item is not that for which you will be inclined to censure 
him too severely. During three summers he toiled in this 
manner, and never raised ten bushels of grain nor a hun- 
dred-weight of hay ; but he expended in the country about 
twelve hundred pounds of Irish money, and then bade 
adieu to his farm, and to the Western Hemisphere. 

“ An Englishman purchased a farm of me ; and, scoffing 
at our Yankee mode of clearing away the trees, he also 
sent for ropes, tackle falls, and pulleys, and moreover for 


XXX 


THE PIONEERS 


leathern girdles, with buckles and straps, and also fur- 
nished his men with polished chisels and mallets. Either 
himself or his men would climb to the top of a high tree 
and there fix a purchase ; then another man below, girded 
with a belt that had straps and stirrups attached to it, was 
hoisted up by a rope, taking with him a basket of tools, to 
a height of about a hundred feet. There he began opera- 
tions by sawing off the top of a tree. This done, he was 
lowered from limb to limb, sawing away branch after 
branch. When the branches encumbered each other, so 
that the saw w r ould not work, he took out his chisel and 
mallet, stood up in his stirrups, and chiseled away at the 
branch. So the owner proceeded for one whole summer, 
and while the heat was on him it would have been imper- 
tinent, if not dangerous, to advise him. He had left a 
country distinguished for agricultural improvements, and 
could look only with disdain on our infant arts. Our 
counsels he considered as the lessons of a schoolboy to his 
preceptor. He did not break his neck — but he destroyed 
his fortune, and finally bade farewell to the woods, leaving 
no representatives but thousands of bare poles, resembling 
the masts of dismantled shipping in a harbor. 

“ Another English gentleman would not condescend to 
cut down a tree except with an English axe, nor plough 
but with a heavy English plough. He would not sow 
seed until every stump was grubbed up ; and it seemed his 
chief maxim to do nothing as it would be done by Ameri- 
cans. Of this he was so punctilious that he shocked his 
wheat with the head downward, — because, said he, the 
ground would take the rankness out of the grain. His 
crop stood in shock in wet weather, during ten or twelve 
days, and in that inverted position began to grow, more to 
the amusement of his neighbors than to the owner’s profit. 
But he remains to this day obstinate — and poor. 


INTRODUCTION 


XXXI 


" While making free with the errors of others, let me 
not be supposed to glorify myself. I have in like man- 
ner committed follies which I have not forgotten. On 
first going to the woods, I was as bigoted to the methods I 
had observed in Pennsylvania as these Europeans were to 
theirs. I would not sow until the saplings had been first 
grubbed up, and I ploughed for the first crop, not con- 
sidering that the immense quantity of timber to be burnt 
consumed all the small roots, and of itself prepared the 
ground for seed. I found fault, too, with their fences, I 
caviled at the construction of their wagons and their gear ; 
I condemned their tools and farming implements, and thus 
talked much and to very little purpose. They continued 
their own practices, and I found after some time that I 
had nothing better to do than to conform, and am every 
day more convinced that wherever men’s minds are uncon- 
trolled, they will in a short time discover what is most for 
their interest. In countries where actions are free, what 
is most in use will be found pretty nearly the best, in 
what concerns husbandry and its appliances. . . . 

“ The clergy are supported without any establishment 
by law, and they live with decency ; and the people show 
a great willingness to support religious institutions, gener- 
ally attending places of public worship, which convinces 
me that neither the interference of the laws, nor the ex- 
citements of persecution or of controversy, are required to 
stimulate them to that which seems more a principle of 
their nature than a matter of regulation or convention. 

“I have often witnessed the beneficial effects of this 
religious disposition, and of the institutions growing out of 
it. The first settlement of Cooperstown was made by the 
poorer class of men ; they labored hard all the week, hut 
on Sunday they either went hunting or fishing, or else 
collected in taverns and loitered away the day, careless of 


xxxii 


THE PIONEERS 


their dress or actions. The sons caught the manners of 
the fathers, and for the first ten years, or before any reli- 
gious establishment was formed, the want of it was mani- 
fest. We then turned our attention to remedy the evil, 
and our pains were rewarded ; for, since that time, new 
and better morals and manners have prevailed, and it has 
now become a matter of honest pride, and as it were a 
fashion, to he orderly and correct. If any still follow the 
ancient practice of fishing and hunting on Sunday, they 
no longer go openly and publicly, but privately and un- 
seen. The people now appear in decent clothing ; they 
are taught to love each other, and the pastor, mixing among 
them, promotes by his influence and persuasion a happy 
spirit of union and good-will. When neighbors quarrel 
he interposes, soothes their angry passions, gently chides 
the froward, points out the mischiefs that accompany con- 
tention, and exhorts them by the love of a religion whose 
spirit is peace. The respect they bear his person gives 
weight to his reasons; they soon feel, in the quiet and 
satisfied state of their minds, the benefit of his counsels ; 
they listen to him not as to a master but as a friend, and 
pay him a willing obedience beyond what the authority 
of the magistrates, or the power of the government, ever 
could enforce. . . . 

u After having been employed for twenty years in the 
same pursuit of improving lands, I am now, by habit, so 
attached to it that it is the principal source which re- 
mains to me of pleasure and recreation.” 


INTRODUCTION 


As this work professes, in its title-page, to be a descrip- 
tive tale, they who will take the trouble to read it may be 
glad to know how much of its contents is literal fact, and 
how much is intended to represent a general picture. The 
author is very sensible that, had he confined himself to the 
latter, always the most effective, as it is the most valuable 
mode of conveying knowledge of this nature, he would 
have made a far better book. But in commencing to de- 
scribe scenes, and perhaps he may add characters, that were 
so familiar to his own youth, there was a constant tempta- 
tion to delineate that which he had known, rather than 
that which he might have imagined. This rigid adhesion 
to truth, an indispensable requisite in history and travels, 
destroys the charm of fiction ; for all that is necessary to 
be conveyed to the mind by the latter had better he done 
by delineations of principles, and of characters in their 
classes, than by a too fastidious attention to originals. 

New York having but one county of Otsego, and the 
Susquehanna hut one proper source, there can be no mis- 
take as to the site of the tale. The history of this district 
of country, so far as it is connected with civilized men, is 
soon told. 

Otsego, in common with most of the interior of the pro- 
vince of New York, was included in the county of Albany 
previously to the war of the separation. It then became, 
in a subsequent division of territory, a part of Montgomery ; 


XXXIV 


THE PIONEERS 


and, finally, having obtained a sufficient population of its 
own, it was set apart as a county by itself, shortly after 
the peace of 1783. It lies among those low spurs of the 
Alleghanies which cover the midland counties of New 
York ; and it is a little east of a meridional line drawn 
through the centre of the State. As the waters of New 
York either flow southerly into the Atlantic or northerly 
into Ontario and its outlet, Otsego Lake, being the source 
of the Susquehanna, is, of necessity, among its highest 
lands. The face of the country, the climate as it was found 
by the whites, and the manners of the settlers, are de- 
scribed with a minuteness for which the author has no 
other apology than the force of his own recollections. 

Otsego is said to he a word compounded of Ot, a place 
of meeting, and Sego, or Sago, the ordinary term of saluta- 
tion used by the Indians of this region. There is a tradi- 
tion which says that the neighboring tribes were accustomed 
to meet on the banks of the lake to make their treaties, 
and otherwise to strengthen their alliances, and which re- 
fers the name to this practice. As the Indian agent of 
New York had a log dwelling at the foot of the lake, how- 
ever, it is not impossible that the appellation grew out of 
the meetings that were held at his council fires ; the war 
drove off the agent, in common with the other officers of 
the crown ; and his rude dwelling was soon abandoned. 
The author remembers it a few years later, reduced to the 
humble office of a smoke-house. 

In 1779 an expedition was sent against the hostile In- 
dians, who dwelt about a hundred miles west of Otsego, 
on the banks of the Cayuga. The wdiole country was then 
a wilderness, and it was necessary to transport the baggage 
of the troops by means of the rivers, a devious but practi- 
cable route. One brigade ascended the Mohawk, until it 
reached the point nearest to the sources of the Susque- 


INTRODUCTION 


xxxy 


hanna, whence it cut a lane through the forest to the 
head of the Otsego. The boats and baggage were carried 
over this “ portage,” and the troops proceeded to the other 
extremity of the lake, where they disembarked and en- 
camped. The Susquehanna, a narrow though rapid stream 
at its source, was much filled with “ flood wood,” or fallen 
trees ; and the troops adopted a novel expedient to facili- 
tate their passage. The Otsego is about nine miles in 
length, varying in breadth from half a mile to a mile and 
a half. The water is of great depth, limpid, and sup- 
plied from a thousand springs. At its foot, the banks are 
rather less than thirty feet high ; the remainder of its 
margin being in mountains, intervals, and points. The 
outlet, or the Susquehanna, flows through a gorge in the 
low banks just mentioned, which may have a width of two 
hundred feet. This gorge was dammed, and the waters of 
the lake collected : the Susquehanna was converted into a 
rill. When all was ready, the troops embarked, the dam 
was knocked away, the Otsego poured out its torrent, and 
the boats went merrily down with the current. 1 

General James Clinton, the brother of George Clinton, 
then Governor of New York, and the father of De Witt 
Clinton, who died governor of the same State in 1827, 
commanded the brigade employed on this duty. During 
the stay of the troops at the foot of the Otsego a soldier 
was shot for desertion. The grave of this unfortunate 
man was the first place of human interment that the author 
ever beheld, as the smoke-house was the first ruin. The 
swivel alluded to in this work was buried and abandoned by 
the troops on this occasion, and it was subsequently found 
in digging the cellars of the author’s paternal residence. 

Soon after the close of the war, Washington, accompanied 
by many distinguished men, visited the scene of this tale, 
it is said, with a view to examine the facilities for opening 


XXXVI 


THE PIONEERS 


a communication by water with other points of the country. 
He stayed hut a few hours. 

In 1785 the author’s father, who had an interest in 
extensive tracts of land in this wilderness, arrived with a 
party of surveyors. The manner in which the scene met 
his eye is described by Judge Temple. At the commence- 
ment of the following year the settlement began ; and from 
that time to this the country has continued to flourish. It 
is a singular feature in American life, that, at the beginning 
of this century, when the proprietor of the estate had occa- 
sion for settlers on a new settlement, and in a remote 
county, he was enabled to draw them from among the in- 
crease of the former colony. 

Although the settlement of this part of Otsego a little 
preceded the birth of the author, it was not sufficiently 
advanced to render it desirable that an event, so important 
to himself, should take place in the wilderness. Perhaps 
his mother had a reasonable distrust of the practice of Dr. 
Todd, who must then have been in the novitiate of his 
experimental acquirements. Be that as it may, the author 
was brought an infant into this valley, and all his first im- 
pressions were here obtained. He has inhabited it ever 
since, at intervals ; and he thinks he can answer for the 
faithfulness of the picture he has drawn. 

Otsego has now become one of the most populous dis- 
tricts of New York. It sends forth its emigrants like any 
other old region; and it is pregnant with industry and 
enterprise. Its manufactures are prosperous ; and it is 
worthy of remark, that one of the most ingenious machines 
known in European art is derived from the keen ingenuity 
which is exercised in this remote region. 

In order to prevent mistake, it may be well to say that 
the incidents of this tale are purely a fiction. The literal 
facts are chiefly connected with the natural and artificial 


INTRODUCTION 


xxxvil 


objects, and the customs of the inhabitants. Thus the 
academy, and court-house, and jail, and inn, and most 
similar things, are tolerably exact. They have all long 
since given place to other buildings of a more pretending 
character. There is also some liberty taken with the truth 
in the description of the principal dwelling : the real build- 
ing had no “ firstly ” and “ lastly.” It was of bricks, and 
not of stone ; and its roof exhibited none of the peculiar 
beauties of the “ composite order.” It was erected in an 
age too primitive for that ambitious school of architecture. 
But the author indulged his recollections freely when he 
had fairly entered the door. Here all is literal, even to 
the severed arm of Wolfe, and the urn which held the 
ashes of Queen Dido . 1 

The author has elsewhere said that the character of 
Leather-Stocking is a creation, rendered probable by such 
auxiliaries as were necessary to produce that effect. Had 
he drawn still more upon fancy, the lovers of fiction would 
not have so much cause for their objections to his work. 
Still the picture would not have been in the least true, 
without some substitutes for most of the other personages. 
The great proprietor resident on his lands, and giving his 
name to, instead of receiving it from, his estates, as in 
Europe, is common over the whole of New York. The 
physician, with his theory, rather obtained than corrected 
by experiments on the human constitution ; the pious, 
self-denying, laborious, and ill-paid missionary ; the half- 
educated, litigious, envious, and disreputable lawyer, with 

1 Though forests still crown the mountains of Otsego, the bear, the 
wolf, and the panther are nearly strangers to them. Even the innocent 
deer is rarely seen bounding beneath their arches ; for the rifle, and the 
activity of the settlers, have driven them to other haunts. To this 
change (which, in some particulars, is melancholy to one who knew the 
country in its infancy) it may be added, that the Otsego is beginning to 
be a niggard of its treasures. 


XXXV111 


THE PIONEERS 


his counterpoise, a brother of the profession, of better 
origin and of better character ; the shiftless, bargaining, 
discontented seller of his “ betterments ; ” the plausible 
carpenter, and most of the others, are more familiar to all 
who have ever dwelt in a new country. 

It may be well to say here, a little more explicitly, that 
there was no intention to describe with particular accuracy 
any real characters in this book. It has been often said, 
and in published statements, that the heroine of this book 
was drawn after a sister of the writer, who was killed by 
a fall from a horse now near half a century since. So 
ingenious is conjecture, that a personal resemblance has 
been discovered between the fictitious character and the 
deceased relative ! It is scarcely possible to describe two 
females of the same class in life who would be less alike, 
personally, than Elizabeth Temple and the sister of the 
author who met with the deplorable fate mentioned. In a 
word, they were as unlike in this respect as in history, 
character, and fortunes. 

Circumstances rendered this sister singularly dear to the 
author. After a lapse of half a century, he is writing this 
paragraph with a pain that would induce him to cancel it, 
were it not still more painful to have it believed that one 
whom he regarded with a reverence that surpassed the 
love of a brother, was converted by him into the heroine 
of a work of fiction. 

Erom circumstances which, after this introduction, will 
be obvious to all, the author has had more pleasure in 
writing “ The Pioneers ” than the book will probably ever 
give any of its readers. He is quite aware of its numerous 
faults, some of which he has endeavored to repair in this 
edition ; but as he has — in intention, at least — done his 
full share in amusing the world, he trusts to its good na- 
ture for overlooking this attempt to please himself. 


THE PIONEERS 

OR THE 

SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA 


CHAPTER I. 


See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, 

Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; 

Vapors, and clouds, and storms. 

Thomson : The Seasons : Winter , 1-3. 

Near the centre of the State of New York lies an ex- 
tensive district of country, whose surface is a succession 
of hills and dales, or, to speak with greater deference to 
geographical definitions, of mountains and valleys. It is 
among these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and 
flowing from the limpid lakes and thousand springs of this 
region, the numerous sources of the Susquehanna mean- 
der through the valleys, until, uniting their streams, they 
form one of the proudest rivers of the United States. 
The mountains are generally arable to the tops, although 
instances are not wanting where the sides are jutted with 
rocks, that aid greatly in giving to the country that ro- 
mantic and picturesque character which it so eminently 
possesses. The vales are narrow, rich, and cultivated; 
with a stream uniformly winding through each. Beauti- 
ful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the 
margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of 
the streams, which are favorable to manufacturing; and 
neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of 
wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the 


2 


THE PIONEERS 


vales, and even to the mountain tops. Roads diverge in 
every direction, from the even and graceful bottoms of 
the valleys, to the most rugged and intricate passes of the 
hills. Academies, and minor edifices of learning, meet 
the eye of the stranger at every few miles, as he winds 
his way through this uneven territory; and places for 
the worship of God abound with that frequency which 
characterizes a moral and reflecting people, and with that 
variety of exterior and canonical government which flows 
from unfettered liberty of conscience. In short, the whole 
district is hourly exhibiting how much can be done, in 
even a rugged country, and with a severe climate, under 
the dominion of mild laws, and where every man feels a 
direct interest in the prosperity of a commonwealth, of 
which he knows himself to form a part. The expedients 
of the pioneers who first broke ground in the settlement 
of this country are succeeded by the permanent improve- 
ments of the yeoman, who intends to leave his remains 
to moulder under the sod which he tills, or, perhaps, of 
the son, who, born in the land, piously wishes to linger 
around the grave of his father. Only forty years 1 have 
passed since this territory was a wilderness. 

Very soon after the establishment of the independence 
of the States, by the peace of 1783, the enterprise of their 
citizens was directed to a development of the natural ad- 
vantages of their widely extended dominions. Before the 
war of the Revolution the inhabited parts of the colony 
of New York were limited to less than a tenth of its 
possessions. A narrow belt of country, extending for a 
short distance on either side of the Hudson, with a similar 
occupation of fifty miles on the banks of the Mohawk, 
together with the islands of Nassau and Staten, and a few 
insulated settlements on chosen land along the margins 
of streams, composed the country, which was then in- 
habited by less than two hundred thousand souls. Within 
the short period we have mentioned, the population has 
spread itself over five degrees of latitude and seven of 
longitude, and has swelled to a million and a half of in- 
1 The book was written in 1823. 


THE PIONEERS 


3 


habitants, 1 who are maintained in abundance, and can look 
forward to ages before the evil day must arrive when their 
possessions shall become unequal to their wants. 

Our tale begins in 1793, about seven years after the 
commencement of one of the earliest of those settlements, 
which have conduced to effect that magical change in the 
power and condition of the State, to which we have 
alluded. 

It was near the setting of the sun, on a clear, cold day 
in December, when a sleigh was moving slowly up one 
of the mountains, in the district we have described. The 
day had been fine for the season, and but two or three 
large clouds, whose color seemed brightened by the light 
reflected from the mass of snow that covered the earth, 
floated in a sky of the purest blue. The road wound 
along the brow of a precipice, and on one side was upheld 
by a foundation of logs, piled one upon the other, while 
a narrow excavation in the mountain, in the opposite 
direction, had made a passage of sufficient width for the 
ordinary traveling of that day. But logs, excavation, and 
everything that did not reach several feet above the earth, 
lay alike buried beneath the snow. A single track, barely 
wide enough to receive the sleigh, 2 denoted the route of 
the highway, and this was sunk nearly two feet below the 
surrounding surface. In the vale, which lay at a distance 
of several hundred feet lower, there was what in the lan- 

1 The population of New York is now (1831) quite 2,000,000. [In 
1890, the population of New York State was 5,997,853]. 

2 Sleigh is the word used in every part of the United States to denote 
a traineau. It is of local use in the west of England, whence it is most 
probably dei-ived by the Americans. The latter draw a distinction be- 
tween a sled, or sledge and a sleigh; the sleigh' being shod with metal. 
Sleighs are also subdivided into two-horse and one-horse sleighs. Of the 
latter, there are the cutter, with thills so arranged as to permit the horse 
to travel in the side-track; the “pung,” or “tow-pung,” which is driven 
with a pole ; and the “jumper,” a rude construction used for temporary 
purposes in the new countries. 

Many of the American sleighs are elegant, though the use of this 
mode of conveyance is much lessened with the melioration of the climate, 
consequent on the clearing of the forests. 


4 


THE PIONEERS 


guage of the country was called a clearing, and all the 
usual improvements of a new settlement; these even ex- 
tended up the hill to the point where the road turned 
short and ran across the level land, which lay on the 
summit of the mountain; but the summit itself remained 
in forest. There was a glittering in the atmosphere, as 
if it were filled with innumerable shining particles; and 
the noble bay horses that drew the sleigh were covered, 
in many parts, with a coat of hoar-frost. The vapor from 
their nostrils was seen to issue like smoke; and every 
object in the view, as well as every arrangement of the 
travelers, denoted the depth of a winter in the mountains. 
The harness, which was of a deep, dull black, differing 
from the glossy varnishing of the present day, was orna- 
mented with enormous plates and buckles of brass, that 
shone like gold in those transient beams of the sun which 
found their way obliquely through the tops of the trees. 
Huge saddles, studded with nails, and fitted with cloth 
that served as blankets to the shoulders of the cattle, 
supported four high, square-topped turrets, through which 
the stout reins led from the mouths of the horses to the 
hands of the driver, who was a negro, of apparently 
twenty years of age. His face, which nature had colored 
with a glistening black, was now mottled with the cold, 
and his large shining eyes filled with tears; a tribute to 
its power, that the keen frosts of those regions always 
extracted from one of his African origin. Still there was 
a smiling expression of good humor in his happy counte- 
nance, that was created by the thoughts of home, and a 
Christmas fireside, with its Christmas frolics. The sleigh 
was one of those large, comfortable, old-fashioned con- 
veyances, which would admit a whole family within its 
bosom, but which now contained only two passengers be- 
sides the driver. The color of its outside was a modest 
green, and that of its inside a fiery red. The latter was 
intended to convey the idea of heat in that cold climate. 
Large buffalo skins, trimmed around the edges with red 
cloth, cut into festoons, covered the back of the sleigh, 
and were spread over its bottom, and drawn up around 


THE PIONEERS 


5 


the feet of the travelers — one of whom was a man of 
middle age, and the other a female, just entering upon 
womanhood. The former was of a large stature; but the 
precautions he had taken to guard against the cold left 
but little of his person exposed to view. A great-coat, 
that was abundantly ornamented by a profusion of furs, 
enveloped the whole of his figure, excepting the head, 
which was covered with a cap of marten skins, lined with 
morocco, the sides of which were made to fall, if necessary, 
and were now drawn close over the ears, and fastened 
beneath his chin with a black ribbon. The top of the 
cap was surmounted with the tail of the animal whose 
skin had furnished the rest of the materials, which fell 
back, not ungracefully, a few inches behind the head. 
From beneath this mask were to be seen part of a fine, 
manly face, and particularly a pair of expressive, large 
blue eyes, that promised extraordinary intellect, covert 
humor, and great benevolence. The form of his com- 
panion was literally hid beneath the garments she wore. 
There were furs and silks peeping from under a large 
camlet cloak, with a thick flannel lining, that, by its cut 
and size, was evidently intended for a masculine wearer. 
A huge hood of black silk, that was quilted with down, 
concealed the whole of her head, except at a small opening 
in front for breath, through which occasionally sparkled 
a pair of animated, jet-black eyes. 

Both the father and daughter (for such was the connec- 
tion between the two travelers) were too much occupied 
with their reflections to break a stillness, that received 
little or no interruption from the easy gliding of the sleigh, 
by the sound of their voices. The former was thinking of 
the wife that had held this their only child to her bosom, 
when, four years before, she had reluctantly consented to 
relinquish the society of her daughter, in order that the 
latter might enjoy the advantages of an education, which 
the city of New York could only offer at that period. A 
few months afterwards death had deprived him of the 
remaining companion of his solitude; but still he had 
enough of real regard for his child, not to bring her into 


6 


THE PIONEERS 


the comparative wilderness in which he dwelt, until the 
full period had expired to which he had limited her juve- 
nile labors. The reflections of the daughter were less 
melancholy, and mingled with a pleased astonishment at 
the novel scenery she met at every turn in the road. 

The mountain on which they were journeying was cov- 
ered with pines, that rose without a branch some seventy 
or eighty feet, and which frequently doubled that height, 
by the addition of the tops. Through the innumerable 
yistas that opened beneath the lofty trees the eye could 
penetrate, until it was met by a distant inequality in the 
ground, or was stopped by a view of the summit of the 
mountain, which lay on the opposite side of the valley to 
which they were hastening. The dark trunks of the trees 
rose from the pure white of the snow, in regularly formed 
shafts, until, at a great height, their branches shot forth 
horizontal limbs, that were covered with the meagre foli- 
age of an evergreen, affording a melancholy contrast to the 
torpor of nature below. To the travelers, there seemed 
to be no wind; hut these pines waved majestically at their 
topmost houghs — sending forth a dull, plaintive sound, 
that was quite in consonance with the rest of the melan- 
choly scene. 

The sleigh had glided for some distance along the even 
surface, and the gaze of the female was bent in inquisi- 
tive, and, perhaps, timid glances, into the recesses of the 
forest, when a loud and continued howling was heard, 
pealing under the long arches of the woods, like the cry 
vf a numerous pack of hounds. The instant the sound 
reached the ears of the gentleman, he cried aloud to the 
black, — 

“Hold up, Aggy; there is old Hector; I should know 
his hay among ten thousand! The Leather-Stocking has 
put his hounds into the hills, this clear day, and they 
have started their game. There is a deer-track a few rods 
ahead ; and now, Bess, if thou canst muster courage enough 
to stand fire, I will give thee a saddle for thy Christmas 
dinner.” 

The black drew up, with a cheerful grin upon his 


THE PIONEERS 


7 


chilled features, and began thrashing his arms together, 
in order to restore the circulation to his fingers, while the 
speaker stood erect, and, throwing aside his outer cover- 
ing, stepped from the sleigh upon a bank of snow, which 
sustained his weight without yielding. 

In a few moments the speaker succeeded in extricating 
a double-barreled fowling-piece from among a multitude 
of trunks and bandboxes. After throwing aside the thick 
mittens which had incased his hands, that now appeared 
in a pair of leather gloves tipped with fur, he examined 
his priming, and was about to move forward, when the 
light, bounding noise of an animal plunging through the 
woods was heard, and a fine buck darted into the path, 
a short distance ahead of him. The appearance of the 
animal was sudden, and his flight inconceivably rapid; 
but the traveler appeared to be too keen a sportsman to 
be disconcerted by either. As it came first into view 
he raised the fowling-piece to his shoulder, and, with a 
practiced eye and steady hand, drew a trigger. The deer 
dashed forward undaunted, and apparently unhurt. With- 
out lowering his piece, the traveler turned its muzzle 
towards his victim, and fired again. Neither discharge, 
however, seemed to have taken effect. 

The whole scene had passed with a rapidity that con- 
fused the female, who was unconsciously rejoicing in the 
escape of the buck, as he rather darted like a meteor than 
ran across the road, when a sharp, quick sound struck 
her ear, quite different from the full, round reports of 
her father’s gun, but still sufficiently distinct to be known 
as the concussion produced by firearms. At the same 
instant that she heard this unexpected report, the buck 
sprang from the snow to a great height in the air, and 
directly a second discharge, similar in sound to the first, 
followed, when the animal came to the earth, falling head- 
long, and rolling over on the crust with its own velocity. 
A loud shout was given by the unseen marksman, and a 
couple of men instantly appeared from behind the trunks 
of two of the pines, where they had evidently placed 
themselves in expectation of the passage of the deer. 


8 


THE PIONEERS 


“Ha! Natty, had I known you were in ambush, I 
should not have fired,” cried the traveler, moving towards 
the spot where the deer lay, near to which he was fol- 
lowed by the delighted black, with his sleigh; “but the 
sound of old Hector was too exhilarating to be quiet; 
though I hardly think I struck him either.” 

“No, no, Judge,” returned the hunter, with an inward 
chuckle, and with that look of exultation that indicates 
a consciousness of superior skill; “you burnt your powder 
only to warm your nose this cold evening. Did ye think 
to stop a full-grown buck, with Hector and the slut open 
upon him within sound, with that popgun in your hand ? 
There’s plenty of pheasants among the swamp; and the 
snow-birds are flying round your own door, where you 
may feed them with crumbs, and shoot them at pleasure, 
any day; but if you ’re for a buck, or a little bear’s meat, 
Judge, you ’ll have to take the long rifle, with a greased 
wadding, or you ’ll waste more powder than you ’ll fill 
stomachs, I ’m thinking.” 

As the speaker concluded, he drew his bare hand across 
the bottom of his nose, and again opened his enormous 
mouth with a kind of inward laugh. 

“The gun scatters well, Natty, and it has killed a deer 
before now,” said the traveler, smiling good-humoredly. 
“One barrel was charged with buckshot; but the other 
was loaded for birds only. Here are two hurts; one 
through the neck, and the other directly through the 
heart. It is by no means certain, Natty, but I gave him 
one of the two.” 

“Let who will kill him,” said the hunter, rather sur- 
lily, “I suppose the creature is to be eaten.” So saying, 
he drew a large knife from a leathern sheath, which was 
stuck through his girdle or sash, and cut the throat of 
the animal. “If there are two balls through the deer, 
I would ask if there weren’t two rifles fired; besides, 
who ever saw such a ragged hole from a smooth-bore, as 
this through the neck? And you will own yourself, 
Judge, that the buck fell at the last shot, which was sent 
from a truer and a younger hand, than your’n or mine 


THE PIONEERS 


9 


either ; but for my part, although I am a poor man, I can 
live without the venison, but I don’t love to give up my 
lawful dues in a free country. Though, for the matter 
of that, might often makes right here, as well as in the 
old country, for what I can see.” 

An air of sullen dissatisfaction pervaded the manner 
of the hunter during the whole of this speech; yet he 
thought it prudent to utter the close of the sentence in 
such an undertone, as to leave nothing audible but the 
grumbling sounds of his voice. 

“Nay, Natty,” rejoined the traveler, with undisturbed 
good humor, “ it is for the honor that I contend. A few 
dollars will pay for the venison; but what will requite 
me for the lost honor of a buck’s tail in my cap? Think, 
Natty, how I should triumph over that quizzing dog, 
Dick Jones, who has failed 'seven times already this sea- 
son, and has only brought in one woodchuck and a few 
gray squirrels.” 

“Ah! the game is becoming hard to find, indeed, 
Judge, with your clearings and betterments,” said the old 
hunter, with a kind of compelled resignation. “The time 
has been when I have shot thirteen deer, without count- 
ing the faans, standing in the door of my own hut! — 
and for bear’s meat, if one wanted a ham or so, he had 
only to watch o’ nights, and he could shoot one by moon- 
light, through the cracks of the logs; no fear of his over- 
sleeping himself neither, for the howling of the wolves 
was sartin to keep his eyes open. There ’s old Hector,” 
patting with affection a tall hound, of black and yellow 
spots, with white belly and legs, that just then came in 
on the scent, accompanied by the slut he had mentioned; 
“see where the wolves bit his throat, the night I druv 
them from the venison that was smoking on the chimbly 
top; that dog is more to be trusted than many a Chris- 
tian man; for he never forgets a friend, and loves the 
hand that gives him bread.” 

There was a peculiarity in the manner of the hunter 
that attracted the notice of the young female, who had 
been a close and interested observer of his appearance and 


10 


THE PIONEERS 


equipments from the moment he came into view. He 
was tall, and so meagre as to make him seem above even 
the six feet that he actually stood in his stockings. On 
his head, which was thinly covered with lank, sandy hair, 
he wore a cap made of foxskin, resembling in shape the 
one we have already described, although much inferior in 
finish and ornaments. His face was skinny, and thin 
almost to emaciation; hut yet it bore no signs of disease; 
on the contrary, it had every indication of the most robust 
and enduring health. The cold and the exposure had, 
together, given it a color of uniform red. His gray eyes 
were glancing under a pair of shaggy brows, that overhung 
them in long hairs of gray mingled with their natural hue ; 
his scraggy neck was hare, and burnt to the same tint 
with his face; though a small part of a shirt collar, made 
of the country check, was to be seen above the over-dress 
he wore. A kind of coat, made of dressed deerskin, with 
the hair on, was belted close to his lank body, by a girdle 
of colored worsted. On his feet were deerskin moccasins, 
ornamented with porcupines’ quills, after the manner of 
the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long leg- 
gings of the same material as the moccasins, which, gar- 
tering over the knees of his tarnished buckskin breeches, 
had obtained for him, among the settlers, the nickname 
of Leather- Stocking. Over his left shoulder was slung 
a belt of deerskin, from which depended an enormous ox- 
horn, so thinly scraped as to discover the powder it con- 
tained. The larger end was fitted ingeniously and securely 
with a wooden bottom, and the other was stopped tight 
by a little plug. A leathern pouch hung before him, from 
which, as he concluded his last speech, he took a small 
measure, and, filling it accurately with powder, he com- 
menced reloading the rifle, which, as its butt rested on 
the snow before him, reached nearly to the top of his 
foxskin cap. 

The traveler had been closely examining the wounds 
during these movements, and now, without heeding the 
ill humor of the hunter’s manner, he exclaimed, — 

“I would fain establish a right, Natty, to the honor of 


THE PIONEERS 


11 


this death; and surely if the hit in the neck be mine, it 
is enough ; for the shot in the heart was unnecessary — 
what we call an act of supererogation, Leather- Stocking.” 

“You may call it by what Parned name you please, 
Judge,” said the hunter, throwing his rifle across his left 
arm, and knocking up a brass lid in the breech, from 
which he took a small piece of greased leather, and wrap- 
ping a ball in it, forced them down by main strength on 
the powder, where he continued to pound them while 
speaking. “It ’s far easier to call names than to shoot a 
buck on the spring ; but the creetur came by his end from a 
younger hand than either your’n or mine, as I said before.” 

“What say you, my friend,” cried the traveler, turn- 
ing pleasantly to Natty’s companion; “shall we toss up 
this dollar for the honor, and you keep the silver if you 
lose 1 what say you, friend ? ” 

“That I killed the deer,” answered the young man with 
a little haughtiness, as he leaned on another rifle, similar 
to that of Natty. 

“Here are two to one, indeed,” replied the Judge, 
with a smile ; “I am outvoted — over- ruled, as we say on 
the bench. There is Aggy, he can’t vote, being a slave; 
and Bess is a minor; so I must even make the best of it. 
But you’ll sell me the venison; and the deuce is in it 
but I make a good story about its death.” 

“The meat is none of mine to sell,” said Leather-Stock- 
ing, adopting a little of his companion’s hauteur; “for 
my part I, have known animals travel days with shots in 
the neck, and I ’m none of them who ’ll rob a man of his 
rightful dues ! ” 

“You are tenacious of your rights this cold evening, 
Natty,” returned the Judge, with unconquerable good na- 
ture; “but what say you, young man; will three dollars 
pay you for the buck 1 ” 

“First let us determine the question of right to the 
satisfaction of us both,” said the youth, firmly but re- 
spectfully, and with a pronunciation and language vastly 
superior to his appearance; “with how many shot did 
you load your gun 1 ” 


12 


THE PIONEERS 


“With five, sir,” said the Judge, a little struck with 
the other’s manner; “are they not enough to slay a buck 
like this?” 

“One would do it; hut,” moving to the tree from be- 
hind which he had appeared, “you know, sir, you fired 
in this direction; here are four of the bullets in the tree.” 

The Judge examined the fresh marks in the hark of 
the pine, and shaking his head, said, with a laugh, — 

“You are making out the case against yourself, my 
young advocate ; where is the fifth ? ” 

“ Here ! ” said the youth, throwing aside the rough 
overcoat that he wore, and exhibiting a hole in his under 
garment, through which large drops of blood were oozing. 

“Good God! ” exclaimed the Judge with horror; “have 
I been trifling here about an empty distinction, and a fel- 
low-creature suffering from my hands without a murmur? 
But hasten — quick — get into my sleigh — it is hut a 
mile to the village, where surgical aid can he obtained; all 
shall be done at my expense, and thou shalt live with me 
until thy wound is healed, aye, and forever afterwards.” 

“I thank you for your good intention, but I must de- 
cline your offer. I have a friend who would he uneasy 
were he to hear that I am hurt and away from him. The 
injury is hut slight, and the bullet has missed the hones; 
hut I believe, sir, you will now admit my title to the 
venison.” 

“Admit it!” repeated the agitated Judge: “I here 
give thee a right to shoot deer, or bears, or anything thou 
pleasest in my woods, forever. Leather- Stocking is the 
only other man that I have granted the same privilege to; 
and the time is coming when it will be of value. But I 
buy your deer ; here, this bill will pay thee, both for thy 
shot and my own.” 

The old hunter gathered his tall person up into an air 
of pride, during this dialogue, but he waited until the 
other had done speaking. 

“There’s them living who say that Nathaniel Bump- 
po’s right to shoot on these hills is of older date than 
Marmaduke Temple’s right to forbid him,” he said. 


THE PIONEERS 


13 


“But if there ’s a law about it at all — though who ever 
heard of a law that a man should n’t kill deer where he 
pleased ! — hut if there is a law at all, it should be to 
keep people from the use of smooth-bores. A body never 
knows where his lead will fly, when he pulls the trigger 
of one of them uncertain firearms.” 

Without attending to the soliloquy of Natty, the youth 
bowed his head silently to the offer of the bank-note, and 
replied : — 

“Excuse me; I have need of the venison.” 

“But this will buy you many deer,” said the Judge; 
“take it, I entreat you,” and lowering his voice to a 
whisper, he added, “it is for a hundred dollars.” 

For an instant only, the youth seemed to hesitate, and 
then, blushing even through the high color that the cold 
had given to his cheeks, as if with inward shame at his 
own weakness, he again declined the offer. 

During this scene the female arose, and, regardless of 
the cold air, she threw back the hood which concealed her 
features, and now spoke, with great earnestness. 

“Surely, surely, young man — sir — you would not 
pain my father so much, as to have him think that he 
leaves a fellow-creature in this wilderness, whom his own 
hand has injured. I entreat you will go with us, and 
receive medical aid.” 

Whether his wound became more painful, or there was 
something irresistible in the voice and manner of the fair 
pleader for her father’s feelings, we know not; but the 
distance of the young man’s manner was sensibly softened 
by this appeal, and he stood in apparent doubt, as if re- 
luctant to comply with, and yet unwilling to refuse, her 
request. The Judge, for such, being his office, must in 
future be his title, watched with no little interest the 
display of this singular contention in the feelings of the 
youth; and advancing, kindly took his hand, and as he 
pulled him gently towards the sleigh, urged him to enter 
it. 

“There is no human aid nearer than Templeton,” he 
said, “and the hut of Natty is full three miles from this; 


14 


THE PIONEERS 


come, come, my young friend, go with us, and let the new 
doctor look to this shoulder of thine. Here is Natty will 
take the tidings of thy welfare to thy friends ; and shouldst 
thou require it, thou shalt return home in the morning.” 

The young man succeeded in extricating his hand from 
the warm grasp of the Judge, but he continued to gaze 
on the face of the female, who, regardless of the cold, 
was still standing with her fine features exposed, which 
expressed feelings that eloquently seconded the request 
of her father. Leather- Stocking stood, in the meantime, 
leaning upon his long rifle, with his head turned a little 
to one side, as if engaged in sagacious musing; when, 
having apparently satisfied his doubts, by revolving the 
subject in his mind, he broke silence. 

“It may be best to go, lad, after all; for if the shot 
hangs under the skin, my hand is getting too old to be 
cutting into human flesh, as I once used to. Though 
some thirty years agone, in the old war, when I was out 
under Sir William, I traveled seventy miles alone in the 
howling wilderness, with a rifle bullet in my thigh, and 
then cut it out with my own jackknife. Old Indian 
John knows the time well. I met him with a party of 
the Delawares, on the trail of the Iroquois, who had been 
down and taken five scalps on the Schoharie. But I 
made a mark on the redskin that I ’ll warrant he carried 
to his grave! I took him on his posteerum, saving the 
lady’s presence, as he got up from the ambushment, and 
rattled three buckshot into his naked hide, so close that 
you might have laid a broad joe upon them all” — here 
Natty stretched out his long neck, and straightened his 
body, as he opened his mouth, which exposed a single 
tusk of yellow bone, while his eyes, his face, even his 
whole frame seemed to laugh, although no sound was 
emitted, except a kind of thick hissing, as he inhaled his 
breath in quavers. “ I had lost my bullet-mould in cross- 
ing the Oneida outlet, and had to make shift with the 
buckshot; but the rifle was true, and didn’t scatter like 
your two-legged thing there, Judge, which don’t do, I 
find, to hunt in company with.” 


THE PIONEERS 


15 


Natty’s apology to the delicacy of the young lady was 
unnecessary, for, while he was speaking, she was too 
much employed in helping her father to remove certain 
articles of baggage to hear him. Unable to resist the 
kind urgency of the travelers any longer, the youth, though 
still with an unaccountable reluctance, suffered himself to 
he persuaded to enter the sleigh. The black, with the 
aid of his master, threw the buck across the baggage, and 
entering the vehicle themselves, the Judge invited the 
hunter to do so likewise. 4 

“No, no,” said the old man, shaking his head; “I 
have work to do at home this Christmas Eve; drive on 
with the hoy, and let your doctor look to the shoulder; 
though if he will only cut out the shot, I have yarbs that 
will heal the wound quicker than all his foreign ’int- 
ments.” He turned, and was about to move off, when, 
suddenly recollecting himself, he again faced the party, 
and added, “If you see anything of Indian John, about 
the foot of the lake, you had better take him with you, 
and let him lend the doctor a hand ; for old as he is, he 
is curious at cuts and bruises, and it ’s likelier than not 
he ’ll be in with brooms to sweep your Christmas h’arths.” 

“Stop, stop,” cried the youth, catching the arm of the 
black as he prepared to urge his horses forward; “Natty, 
you need say nothing of the shot, nor of where I am 
going; remember, Natty, as you love me.” 

“Trust old Leather-Stocking,” returned the hunter, 
significantly; “he hasn’t lived fifty years in the wil- 
derness, and not larnt from the savages how to hold his 
tongue; trust to me, lad; and remember old Indian John.” 

“And, Natty,” said the youth eagerly, still holding the 
black by the arm, “I will just get the shot extracted, and 
bring you up to-night a quarter of the buck, for the 
Christmas dinner.” 

He was interrupted by the hunter, who held up his 
finger with an expressive gesture for silence. He then 
moved softly along the margin of the road, keeping his 
eyes steadfastly fixed on the branches of a pine. When 
he had obtained such a position as he wished he stopped, 


16 


THE PIONEERS 


and cocking his rifle, threw one leg far behind him, and 
stretching his left arm to its utmost extent along the 
barrel of his piece, he began slowly to raise its muzzle 
in a line with the straight trunk of the tree. The eyes 
of the group in the sleigh naturally preceded the move- 
ment of the rifle, and they soon discovered the object 
of Natty’s aim. On a small dead branch of the pine, 
which, at the distance of seventy feet from the ground, 
shot out horizontally, immediately beneath the living 
members of the tree, sat a bird, that in the vulgar lan- 
guage of the country was indiscriminately called a pheas- 
ant or a partridge. In size, it was hut little smaller than 
a common barnyard fowl. The haying of the dogs, and 
the conversation that had passed near the root of the 
tree on which it was perched, had alarmed the bird, which 
was now drawn up near the body of the pine, with a head 
and neck so erect as to form nearly a straight line with 
its legs. As soon as the rifle bore on the victim, Natty 
drew his trigger, and the partridge fell from its height 
with a force that buried it in the snow. 

“Lie down, you old villain,” exclaimed Leather-Stock- 
ing, shaking his ramrod at Hector as he hounded towards 
the foot of the tree, “lie down, I say.” The dog obeyed, 
and Natty proceeded with great rapidity, though with 
the nicest accuracy, to reload his piece. When this was 
ended, he took up his game, and showing it to the party, 
without a head, he cried, “Here is a titbit for an old 
man’s Christmas; never mind the venison, boy, and re- 
member Indian John; his yarbs are better than all the 
foreign ’intments. Here, Judge,” holding up the bird 
again, “do you think a smooth-bore would pick game off 
their roost, and not ruffle a feather ? ” The old man gave 
another of his remarkable laughs, which partook so largely 
of exultation, mirth, and irony, and shaking his head, 
he turned, with his rifle at a trail, and moved into the 
forest with steps that were between a walk and a trot. 
At each movement he made, his body lowered several 
inches, his knees yielding with an inclination inwards; 
but as the sleigh turned at a bend in the road, the youth 


THE PIONEERS 


17 


cast his eyes in quest of his old companion, and he saw 
that he was already nearly concealed by the trunks of 
the trees, while his dogs were following quietly in his 
footsteps, occasionally scenting the deer track, that they 
seemed to know instinctively was now of no further use 
to them. Another jerk was given to the sleigh, and 
Leather-Stocking was hid from view. 


CHAPTER II. 

All places that the eye of Heaven visits 
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. 

Think not the king did banish thee : 

But thou the king. 

Shakespeare : Richard II., I. 3 : 275-278. 


An ancestor of Marmaduke Temple had, about one 
hundred and twenty years before the commencement of 
our tale, come to the colony of Pennsylvania, a friend and 
co-religionist of its great patron. Old Marmaduke, for 
this formidable prenomen was a kind of appellative to 
the race, brought with him, to that asylum of the perse- 
cuted, an abundance of the good things of this life. He 
became the master of many thousands of acres of unin- 
habited territory, and the supporter of many a score of 
dependents. He lived greatly respected for his piety, 
and not a little distinguished as a secretary : was intrusted 
by his associates with many important political stations; 
and died just in time to escape the knowledge of his own 
poverty. It was his lot to share the fortune of most of 
those who brought wealth with them into the new settle- 
ments of the middle colonies. 

The consequence of an emigrant into these provinces 
was generally to be ascertained by the number of his white 
servants or dependents, and the nature of the public situa- 
tions that he held. Taking this rule as a guide, the an- 
cestor of our Judge must have been a man of no little 
note. 

It is, however, a subject of curious inquiry at the 


18 


THE PIONEERS 


present day, to look into the brief records of that early 
period, and observe how regular, and with few exceptions 
how inevitable, were the gradations, on the one hand, of 
the masters to poverty, and on the other, of their ser- 
vants to wealth. Accustomed to ease, and unequal to 
the struggles incident to an infant society, the affluent 
emigrant was barely enabled to maintain his own rank, 
by the weight of his personal superiority and acquire- 
ments; hut the moment that his head was laid in the 
grave, his indolent and comparatively uneducated off- 
spring were compelled to yield precedency to the more 
active energies of a class whose exertions had been stim- 
ulated by necessity. This is a very common course of 
things, even in the present state of the Union; hut it 
was peculiarly the fortunes of the two extremes of society, 
in the peaceful and unenterprising colonies of Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey. 

The posterity of Marmaduke did not escape the com- 
mon lot of those who depend rather on their hereditary 
possessions than on their own powers; and in the third 
generation they had descended to a point, below which, 
in this happy country, it is barely possible for honesty, 
intellect, and sobriety to fall. The same pride of family 
that had, by its self-satisfied indolence, conduced to aid 
their fall, now became a principle to stimulate them to 
endeavor to rise again. The feeling, from being morbid, 
was changed to a healthful and active desire to emulate 
the character, the condition, and, peradventure, the wealth 
of their ancestors also. It was the father of our new ac- 
quaintance, the Judge, who first began to reascend in the 
scale of society; and in this undertaking he was not a 
little assisted by a. marriage, which aided in furnishing the 
means of educating his only son in a rather better man- 
ner than the low state of the common schools in Pennsyl- 
vania could promise; or than had been the practice in the 
family, for the two or three preceding generations. 

At the school vhere the reviving prosperity of his 
father was enabled to maintain him, young Marmaduke 
formed an intimacy with a youth whose years were about 


THE PIONEERS 


19 


equal to his own. This was a fortunate connection for our 
Judge, and paved the way to most of his future elevation 
in life. 

There was not only great wealth, but high court inter- 
est, among the connections of Edward Effingham. They 
wer6 one of the few families then resident in the colonies, 
who thought it a degradation to its members to descend 
to the pursuits of commerce; and who never' emerged 
from the privacy of domestic life, unless to preside in the 
councils of the colony, or to bear arms in her defense. 
The latter had, from youth, been the only employment 
of Edward’s father. Military rank under the crown of 
Great Britain was attained with much longer probation 
and by much more toilsome services sixty years ago than 
at the present time. Years were passed without murmur- 
ing, in the subordinate grades of the service; and those 
soldiers who were stationed in the colonies felt, when 
they obtained the command of a company, that they were 
entitled to receive the greatest deference from the peace- 
ful occupants of the soil. Any one of our readers who 
has occasion to cross the Niagara may easily observe not 
only the self-importance, but the real estimation enjoyed 
by the humblest representative of the crown, even in that 
polar region of royal sunshine. Such, and at no very 
distant period, was the respect paid to the military in 
these States, where now, happily, no symbol of war is 
ever seen, unless at the free and fearless voice of their 
people. When, therefore, the father of Marmaduke’s 
friend, after forty years’ service, retired with the rank of 
major, maintaining in his domestic establishment a com- 
parative splendor, he became a man of the first considera- 
tion in his native colony, which was that of New York. 
He had served with fidelity and courage, and having 
been, acording to the custom of the provinces, intrusted 
with commands much superior to those to which he was 
entitled by rank, with reputation also. When Major 
Effingham yielded to the claims of age, he retired with 
dignity, refusing his half-pay or any other compensation 
for services that he felt he could no longer perform. 


20 


THE PIONEEKS 


The ministry proffered various civil offices, which 
yielded not only honor hut profit; but he declined them 
all, with the chivalrous independence and loyalty that had 
marked his character through life. The veteran soon 
caused this act of patriotic disinterestedness to he followed 
by another of private munificence, that, however little it 
accorded with prudence, was in perfect conformity with 
the simple integrity of his own views. 

The friend of Marmaduke was his only child; and to 
this son, on his marriage with a lady to whom the father 
was particularly partial, the Major gave a complete con- 
veyance of his whole estate, consisting of moneys in the 
funds, a town and country residence, sundry valuable 
farms in the old parts of the colony, and large tracts of 
wild land in the new; in this manner throwing himself 
upon the filial piety of his child for his own future main- 
tenance. Major Effingham, in declining the liberal offers 
of the British ministry, had subjected himself to the sus- 
picion of having attained his dotage, by all those who 
throng the avenues to court patronage, even in the remot- 
est corners of that vast empire; but, when he thus volun- 
tarily stripped himself of his great personal wealth, the 
remainder of the community seemed instinctively to adopt 
the conclusion also that he had reached a second child- 
hood. This may explain the fact of his importance rap- 
idly declining; and, if privacy was his object, the veteran 
had soon a free indulgence of his wishes. Whatever 
views the world might entertain of this act of the Major, 
to himself and to his child it seemed no more than a 
natural gift, by a father, of those immunities which he 
could no longer enjoy or improve, to a son who was 
formed both by nature and education to do both. The 
younger Effingham did not object to the amount of the 
donation; for he felt thaf while his parent reserved a 
moral control over his actions, he was relieving himself 
from a fatiguing burden: such, indeed, was the confi- 
dence existing between them, that to neither did it seem 
anything more than removing money from one pocket to 
another. 


THE PIONEERS 


21 


One of the first acts of the young man, on coming into 
possession of his wealth, was to seek his early friend, with 
a view to offer any assistance that it was now in his 
power to bestow. 

The death of Marmaduke’s father, and the consequent 
division of his small estate, rendered such an offer ex- 
tremely acceptable to the young Pennsylvanian: he felt 
his own powers, and saw, not only the excellences, but 
the foibles, in the character of his friend. Effingham 
was by nature indolent, confiding, and at times impetuous 
and indiscreet; but Marmaduke was uniformly equable, 
penetrating, and full of activity and enterprise. To the 
latter, therefore, the assistance, or rather connection, that 
was proffered to him, seemed to produce a mutual advan- 
tage. It was cheerfully accepted, and the arrangement 
of its conditions was easily completed. A mercantile 
house was established in the metropolis of Pennsylvania, 
with the avails of Mr. Effingham’s personal property; all, 
or nearly all, of which was put into the possession of 
Temple, who was the only ostensible proprietor in the 
concern, — while, in secret, the other was entitled to an 
equal participation in the profits. This connection was 
thus kept private for two reasons; one of which, in the 
freedom of their intercourse, was frankly avowed to Mar- 
maduke, while the other continued profoundly hid in the 
bosom of his friend. The last was nothing more than 
pride. To the descendant of a line of soldiers, commerce, 
even in that indirect manner, seemed a degrading pursuit; 
but an insuperable obstacle to the disclosure existed in the 
prejudices of his father. 

We have already said that Major Effingham had served 
as a soldier with reputation. On one occasion, while in 
command on the western frontier of Pennsylvania, against 
a league of the French and Indians, not only his glory, 
but the safety of himself and his troops were jeoparded, 
by the peaceful policy of that colony. To the soldier, 
this was an unpardonable offense. He was fighting in 
their defense; he knew that the mild principles of this 
little nation of practical Christians would be disregarded 


22 


THE PIONEEKS 


by their subtle and malignant enemies; and he felt the 
injury the more deeply, because he saw that the avowed 
object of the colonists, in withholding their succors, would 
only have a tendency to expose his command, without 
preserving the peace. The soldier succeeded, after a de- 
sperate conflict, in extricating himself, with a handful of 
his men, from their murderous enemy; but he never for- 
gave the people who had exposed him to a danger which 
they left him to combat alone. It was in vain to tell 
him that they had no agency in his being placed on their 
frontier at all; it was evidently for their benefit that he 
had been so placed, and it was their “religious duty,” so 
the Major always expressed it, “it was their religious 
duty to have supported him.” 

At no time was the old soldier an admirer of the peace- 
ful disciples of Fox. Their disciplined habits, both of 
mind and body, had endowed them with great physical 
perfection, and the eye of the veteran was apt to scan the 
fair proportions and athletic frames of the colonists, with 
a look that seemed to utter volumes of contempt for their 
moral imbecility. He was also a little addicted to the 
expression of a belief, that, where there was so great an 
observance of the externals of religion, there could not 
be much of the substance. It is not our task to explain 
what is, or what ought to be, the substance of Christian- 
ity, but merely to record in this place the opinions of 
Major Effingham. 

Knowing the sentiments of the father in relation to 
this people, it was no wonder that the son hesitated to 
avow his connection with, nay, even his dependence on 
the integrity of a Quaker. 

It has been said that Marmaduke deduced his origin 
from the contemporaries and friends of Penn. His father 
had married without the pale of the church to which he 
belonged, and had, in this manner, forfeited some of the 
privileges of his offspring. Still, as young Marmaduke 
was educated in a colony and society where even the ordi- 
nary intercourse between friends was tinctured with the 
aspect of this mild religion, his habits and language were 


THE PIONEERS 


23 


somewhat marked by its peculiarities. His own marriage 
at a future day with a lady without not only the pale, 
hut the influence, of this sect of religionists, had a ten- 
dency, it is true, to weaken his early impressions; still 
he retained them in some degree to the hour of his death, 
and was observed uniformly, when much interested or agi- 
tated, to speak in the language of his youth. But this is 
anticipating our tale. 

When Marmaduke first became the partner of young 
Effingham, he was quite the Quaker in externals; and it 
was too dangerous an experiment for the son to think of 
encountering the prejudices of the father on this subject. 
The connection, therefore, remained a profound secret to 
all but those who were interested in it. 

For a few years, Marmaduke directed the commercial 
operations of his house with a prudence and sagacity that 
afforded rich returns. He married the lady we have men- 
tioned, who was the mother of Elizabeth, and the visits 
of his friend were becoming more frequent. There was a 
speedy prospect of removing the veil from their inter- 
course, as its advantages became each hour more appar- 
ent to Mr. Effingham, when the troubles that preceded the 
war of the Revolution extended themselves to an alarming 
degree. 

Educated in the most dependent loyalty, Mr. Effing- 
ham had from the commencement of the disputes between 
the colonists and the crown warmly maintained what he 
believed to be the just prerogatives of his prince; while, 
on the other hand, the clear head and independent mind 
of Temple had induced him to espouse the cause of the 
people. Both might have been influenced by early im- 
pressions; for, if the son of the loyal and gallant soldier 
bowed in implicit obedience to the will of his sovereign, 
the descendant of the persecuted follower of Penn looked 
back, with a little bitterness, to the unmerited wrongs that 
had been heaped upon his ancestors. 

This difference in opinion had long been a subject of 
amicable dispute between them; hut, latterly, the contest 
was getting to be too important to admit of trivial discus- 


24 


THE PIONEEKS 


sions on the part of Marmaduke, whose acute discernment 
was already catching faint glimmerings of the important 
events that were in embryo. The sparks of dissension 
soon kindled into a blaze ; and the colonies, or rather, as 
they quickly declared themselves, the States, became a 
scene of strife and bloodshed for years. 

A short time before the battle of Lexington, Mr. Ef- 
fingham, already a widower, transmitted to Marmaduke, 
for safe keeping, all his valuable effects and papers; and 
left the colony without his father. The war had, how- 
ever, scarcely commenced in earnest, when he reappeared 
in New York, wearing the livery of his king; and, in a 
short time, he took the field at the head of a provincial 
corps. In the meantime, Marmaduke had completely 
committed himself in the cause, as it was then called, of 
the rebellion. Of course, all intercourse between the 
friends ceased; on the part of Colonel Effingham it was 
unsought, and on that of Marmaduke there was a cau- 
tious reserve. It soon became necessary for the latter to 
abandon the capital of Philadelphia; but he had taken 
the precaution to remove the whole of his effects beyond 
the reach of the royal forces, including the papers of his 
friend also. There he continued serving his country dur- 
ing the struggle, in various civil capacities, and always 
with dignity and usefulness. While, however, he dis- 
charged his functions with credit and fidelity, Marmaduke 
never seemed to lose sight of his own interests; for, when 
the estates of the adherents of the crown fell under the 
hammer, by the acts of confiscation, he appeared in New 
York, and became the purchaser of extensive possessions 
at comparatively low prices. 

It is true that Marmaduke, by thus purchasing estates 
that had been wrested by violence from others, rendered 
himself obnoxious to the censures of that sect which, at 
the same time that it discards its children from a full 
participation in the family union, seems ever unwilling 
to abandon them entirely to the world. But either his 
success, or the frequency of the transgression in others, 
soon wiped off this slight stain from his character; and, 


THE PIONEERS 


25 


although there were a few who, dissatisfied with their 
own fortunes, or conscious of their own demerits, would 
make dark hints concerning the sudden prosperity of the 
unportioned Quaker, yet his services, and possibly his 
wealth, soon drove the recollection of these vague conjec- 
tures from men’s minds. 

When the war ended, and the independence of the 
States was acknowledged, Mr. Temple turned his atten- 
tion from the pursuit of commerce, which was then fluc- 
tuating and uncertain, to the settlement of those tracts of 
land which he had purchased. Aided by a good deal of 
money, and directed by the suggestions of a strong and 
practical reason, his enterprise throve to a degree that 
the climate and rugged face of the country which he se- 
lected would seem to forbid. His property increased in 
a tenfold ratio, and he was already ranked among the 
most wealthy and important of his countrymen. To in- 
herit this wealth he had but one child, the daughter whom 
we have introduced to the reader, and whom he was now 
conveying from school to preside over a household that 
had too long wanted a mistress. 

When the district in which his estates lay had become 
sufficiently populous to be set off as a county, Mr. Temple 
had, according to the custom of the new settlements, been 
selected to fill its highest judicial station. This might 
make a Templar 1 smile ; but, in addition to the apology 
of necessity, there is ever a dignity in talents and expe- 
rience that is commonly sufficient, in any station, for the 
protection of its possessor; and Marmaduke, more fortu- 
nate in his native clearness of mind than the judge of 
King Charles, not only decided right, but was generally 
able to give a very good reason for it. At all events, 
such was the universal practice of the country and the 
times; and Judge Temple, so far from ranking among 

l [With an allusive hint at his hero’s name, the author refers to the 
members of the Middle and Inner Temple in London who held then as 
they hold now so important a position as lawyers. Readers will recall 
the delightful essay by Charles Lamb on the Benchers of the Inner Tem- 
ple in Essays of Elia.] 


26 


THE PIONEERS 


the lowest of his judicial contemporaries in the courts of 
the new counties, felt himself, and was unanimously ac- 
knowledged to be, among the first. 

We shall here close this brief explanation of the history 
and character of some of our personages, leaving them in 
future to speak and act for themselves. 


CHAPTER III. 


All that thou seest, is nature’s handiwork ; 

Those rocks that upward throw their mossy brows 
Like castled pinnacles of elder times ! 

These venerable stems, that slowly rock 
Their towering branches in the wintry gale ! 

That field of frost, which glitters in the sun, 

Mocking the whiteness of a marble breast ! 

Yet man can mar such works with his rude taste, 

Like some sad spoiler of a virgin’s fame. 

Duo. 

Some little while elapsed ere Marmaduke Temple was 
sufficiently recovered from his agitation to scan the person 
of his new companion. He now observed that he was 
a youth of some two or three and twenty years of age, 
and rather above the middle height. Further observa- 
tion was prevented by the rough overcoat which was belted 
close to his form by a worsted sash, much like the one 
worn by the old hunter. The eyes of the Judge, after 
resting a moment on the figure of the stranger, were 
raised to a scrutiny of his countenance. There had been 
a look of care, visible in the features of the youth when 
he first entered the sleigh, that had not only attracted 
the notice of Elizabeth, but which she had been much 
puzzled to interpret. His anxiety seemed the strongest 
when he was enjoining his old companion to secrecy; 
and even when he had decided, and was rather passively 
suffering himself to be conveyed to the village, the ex- 
pression of his eyes by no means indicated any great de- 
gree of self-satisfaction at the step. But the lines of an 
uncommonly prepossessing countenance were gradually be- 
coming composed; and he now sat silent, and apparently 


THE PIONEERS 


27 


musing. The Judge gazed at him for some time with 
earnestness, and then smiling, as if at his own forgetful- 
ness, he said, — 

“ I believe, my young friend, that terror has driven you 
from my recollection; your face is very familiar, and yet 
for the honor of a score of bucks’ tails in my cap, I could 
not tell your name.” 

“I came into the country but three weeks since, ” re- 
turned the youth coldly, “and I understand you have 
been absent twice that time.” 

“It will be five to-morrow. Yet your face is one that 
I have seen; though it would not be strange, such has 
been my affright, should I see thee in thy winding-sheet 
walking by my bedside to-night. What say’st thou, 
Bess ? Am I compos mentis or not ? fit to charge a grand 
jury, or, what is just now of more pressing necessity, 
able to do the honors of a Christmas Eve in the hall of 
Templeton % ” 

“More able to do either, my dear father,” said a play- 
ful voice from under the ample in closures of the hood, 
“than to kill deer with a smooth-bore.” A short pause 
followed, and the same voice, but in a different accent, 
continued, “We shall have good reasons for our thanks- 
giving to-night, on more accounts than one.” 

The horses soon reached a point where they seemed 
to know by instinct that the journey was nearly ended, 
and bearing on the bits as they tossed their heads, they 
rapidly drew the sleigh over the level land which lay on 
the top of the mountain, and soon came to the point 
where the road descended suddenly, but circuitously, into 
the valley. 

The Judge was roused from his reflections, when he 
saw the four columns of smoke which floated above his 
own chimneys. As house, village, and valley burst on 
his sight, he exclaimed cheerfully to his daughter, — 

“See, Bess, there is thy resting-place for life! And 
thine, too, young man, if thou wilt consent to dwell 
with us.” 

The eyes of his auditors involuntarily met; and if the 


28 


THE PIONEERS 


color that gathered over the face of Elizabeth was contra- 
dicted by the cold expression of her eye, the ambiguous 
smile that again played about the lips of the stranger 
seemed equally to deny the probability of his consenting 
to form one of this family group. The scene was one, 
however, which might easily warm a heart less given to 
philanthropy than that of Marmaduke Temple. 

The side of the mountain on which our travelers were 
journeying, though not absolutely perpendicular, was so 
steep as to render great care necessary in descending the 
rude and narrow path, which, in that early day, wound 
along the precipices. The negro reined in his impatient 
steeds, and time was given Elizabeth to dwell on a scene 
which was so rapidly altering under the hands of man, 
that it only resembled, in its outlines, the picture she 
had so often studied with delight in childhood. Imme- 
diately beneath them lay a seeming plain, glittering with- 
out inequality, and buried in mountains. The latter were 
precipitous, especially on the side of the plain, and chiefly 
in forest. Here and there the hills fell away in long, 
low points, and broke the sameness of the outline, or 
setting, to the long and wide field of snow, which, with- 
out house, tree, fence, or any other fixture, resembled so 
much spotless cloud settled to the earth. A few dark 
and moving spots were, however, visible on the even 
surface, which the eye of Elizabeth knew to be so many 
sleighs going their several ways, to or from the village. 
On the western border of the plain, the mountains, though 
equally high, were less precipitous, and as they receded, 
opened into irregular valleys and glens, or were formed 
into terraces and hollows that admitted of cultivation. 
Although the evergreens still held dominion over many 
of the hills that rose on this side of the valley, yet the 
undulating outlines of the distant mountains, covered with 
forests of beech and maple, gave a relief to the eye, and 
the promise of a kinder soil. Occasionally spots of white 
were discoverable amidst the forests of the opposite hills, 
which announced by the smoke that curled over the tops 
of the trees the habitations of man, and the commence- 


THE PIONEERS 


29 


ment of agriculture. These spots were sometimes, by the 
aid of united labor, enlarged into what were called set- 
tlements, but more frequently were small and insulated; 
though so rapid were the changes, and so persevering the 
labors of those who had cast their fortunes on the suc- 
cess of the enterprise, that it was not difficult for the 
imagination of Elizabeth to conceive they were . enlarg- 
ing under her eye, while she was gazing, in mute won- 
der, at the alterations that a few short years had made 
in the aspect of the country. The points on the west- 
ern side of this remarkable plain, on which no plant 
had taken root, were both larger and more numerous than 
those on its eastern, and one in particular thrust itself 
forward in such a manner as to form beautifully curved 
bays of snow on either side. On its extreme end an oak 
stretched forward, as if to overshadow, with its branches, 
a spot which its roots were forbidden to enter. It had 
released itself from the thralldom that a growth of cen- 
turies had imposed on the branches of the surrounding 
forest trees, and threw its gnarled and fantastic arms 
abroad, in the wildness of liberty. A dark spot of a few 
acres in extent at the southern extremity of this beautiful 
flat, and immediately under the feet of our travelers, alone 
showed by its rippling surface, and the vapors which 
exhaled from it, that what at first might seem a plain, 
was one of the mountain lakes, locked in the frosts of 
winter. A narrow current rushed impetuously from its 
bosom at the open place we have mentioned, and was to 
be traced for miles, as it wound its way towards the south 
through the real valley, by its borders of hemlock and 
pine, and by the vapor which arose from its warmer sur- 
face into the chill atmosphere of the hills. The banks 
of this lovely basin, at its outlet, or southern end, were 
steep but not high; and in that direction the land con- 
tinued, far as the eye could reach, a narrow but grace- 
ful valley, along which the settlers had scattered their 
humble habitations, with a profusion that bespoke the 
quality of the soil, and the comparative facilities of inter- 
course. 


30 


THE PIONEERS 


Immediately on the bank of the lake and at its foot, 
stood the village of Templeton. It consisted of some fifty 
buildings, including those of every description, chiefly 
built of wood, and which in their architecture bore no 
great marks of taste, but which also, by the unfinished 
appearance of most of the dwellings, indicated the hasty 
manner of their construction. To the eye, they presented 
a variety of colors. A few were white in both front and 
rear, but more bore that expensive color on their fronts 
only, while their economical but ambitious owners had 
covered the remaining sides of the edifices with a dingy 
red. One or two were slowly assuming the russet of 
age; while the uncovered beams that were to be seen 
through the broken windows of their second stories, 
showed that either the taste or the vanity of their pro- 
prietors had led them to undertake a task which they 
were unable to accomplish. The whole were grouped in 
a manner that aped the streets of a city, and were evi- 
dently so arranged by the direction of one who looked to 
the wants of posterity rather than to the convenience of 
the present incumbents. Some three or four of the better 
sort of buildings, in addition to the uniformity of their 
color, were fitted with green blinds, which, at that season 
at least, were rather strangely contrasted to the chill as- 
pect of the lake, the mountains, the forests, and the wide 
fields of snow. Before the door of these pretending dwell- 
ings were placed a few saplings, either without branches, 
or possessing only the feeble shoots of one or two summers’ 
growth, that looked not unlike tall grenadiers on post 
near the threshold of princes. In truth, the occupants 
of these favored habitations were the nobles of Templeton, 
as Marmaduke was its king. They were the dwellings of 
two young men who were cunning in the law; an equal 
number of that class who chaffered to the wants of the 
community under the title of storekeepers; and a disciple 
of iEsculapius, who, for a novelty, brought more subjects 
into the world than he sent out of it. In the midst of 
this incongruous group of dwellings, rose the mansion of 
the Judge, towering above all its neighbors. It stood in 


THE PIONEERS 


31 


the centre of an inclosure of several acres, which were cov- 
ered with fruit-trees. Some of the latter had been left by 
the Indians, and began already to assume the moss and 
inclination of age, therein forming a very marked con- 
trast to the infant plantations that peered over most of the 
picketed fences of the village. In addition to this show 
of cultivation, were two rows of young Lombardy poplars, 
a tree but lately introduced into America, formally lin- 
ing either side of a pathway, which led from a gate that 
opened on the principal street to the front door of the 
building. The house itself had been built entirely under 
the superintendence of a certain Mr. Richard Jones, 
whom we have already mentioned, and who, from his 
cleverness in small matters, and an entire willingness to 
exert his talents, added to the circumstance of their being 
sisters’ children, ordinarily superintended all the minor 
concerns of Marmaduke Temple. Richard was fond of 
saying that this child of his invention consisted of no- 
thing more nor less than what should form the ground- 
work of every clergyman’s discourse; namely, a firstly, 
and a lastly. He had commenced his labors, in the first 
year of their residence, by erecting a tall, gaunt edifice of 
wood, with its gable towards the highway. In this shel- 
ter, for it was little more, the family resided three years. 
By the end of that period, Richard had completed his 
design. He had availed himself, in this heavy under- 
taking, of the experience of a certain wandering eastern 
mechanic, who, by exhibiting a few soiled plates of Eng- 
lish architecture, and talking learnedly of friezes, entab- 
latures, and particularly of the composite order, had ob- 
tained a very undue influence over Richard’s taste, in 
everything that pertained to that branch of the fine arts. 
Not that Mr. Jones did not affect to consider Hiram Doo- 
little a perfect empiric in his profession, being in the 
constant habit of listening to his treatises on architecture 
with a kind of indulgent smile; yet, either from an in- 
ability to oppose them by anything plausible from his 
own stores of learning, or from secret admiration, Rich- 
ard generally submitted to the arguments of his coadjutor. 


32 


THE PIONEERS 


Together, they had not only erected a dwelling for Mar- 
maduke, hut they had given a fashion to the architecture 
of the whole county. The composite order, Mr. Doolittle 
would contend, was an order composed of many others, 
and was intended to he the most useful of all, for it ad- 
mitted into its construction such alterations as conven- 
ience or circumstances might require. To this proposition 
Diehard usually assented; and when rival geniuses, who 
monopolize not only all the reputation, hut most of the 
money of a neighborhood, are of a mind, it is not uncom- 
mon to see them lead the fashion, even in graver matters. 
In the present instance, as we have already hinted, the 
castle, as Judge Templeton’s dwelling was termed in com- 
mon parlance, came to be the model, in some one or other 
of its numerous excellences, for every aspiring edifice 
within twenty miles of it. 

The house itself, or the “lastly,” was of stone; large, 
square, and far from uncomfortable . 1 These were four 
requisites, on which Marmaduke had insisted with a little 
more than his ordinary pertinacity. But everything else 
was peaceably assigned to Bichard and his associate. 
These worthies found the material a little too solid for 
the tools of their workmen, which, in general, were em- 
ployed on a substance no harder than the white pine of 
the adjacent mountains, a wood so proverbially soft that 
it is commonly chosen by the hunters for pillows. But 
for this awkward dilemma, it is probable that the ambi- 
tious tastes of our two architects would have left us much 
more to do in the way of description. Driven from the 
faces of the house by the obduracy of the material, they 
took refuge in the porch and on the roof. The former, it 
was decided, should be severely classical, and the latter 
a rare specimen of the merits of the composite order. 

A roof, Bichard contended, was a part of the edifice 
that the ancients always endeavored to conceal, it being 
an excrescence in architecture that was only to be toler- 
ated on account of its usefulness. Besides, as he wittily 
added, a chief merit in a dwelling was to present a front, 
1 See Appendix, Note A. 


THE PIONEERS 


33 


on whichever side it might happen to he seen; for as it 
was exposed to all eyes in all weathers, there should be 
no weak flank for envy or unneighborly criticism to as- 
sail. It was therefore decided that the roof should he flat, 
and with four faces. To this arrangement Marmaduke 
objected, the heavy snows that lay for months frequently 
covering the earth to a depth of three or four feet. Hap- 
pily, the facilities of the composite order presented them- 
selves to effect a compromise, and the rafters were length- 
ened, so as to give a descent that should carry off the 
frozen element. But unluckily, some mistake was made 
in the admeasurement of these material parts of the fabric ; 
and as one of the greatest recommendations of Hiram was 
his ability to work by the “square rule,” no opportunity 
was found of discovering the effect until the massive tim- 
bers were raised on the four walls of the building. Then, 
indeed, it was soon seen, that, in defiance of all rule, the 
roof was by far the most conspicuous part of the whole 
edifice. Bichard and his associate consoled themselves 
with the belief that the covering would aid in concealing 
this unnatural elevation; but every shingle that was laid 
only multiplied objects to look at. Bichard essayed to 
remedy the evil with paint, and four different colors were 
laid on by his own hands. The first was a sky-blue, in 
the vain expectation that the eye might be cheated into 
the belief it was the heavens themselves that hung so 
imposingly over Marmaduke’s dwelling; the second was 
what he called a “cloud-color,” being nothing more nor 
less than an imitation of smoke ; the third was what Bi ch- 
ard termed an invisible green, an experiment that did not 
succeed against a background of sky. Abandoning the 
attempt to conceal, our architects drew upon their inven- 
tion for means to ornament the offensive shingles. After 
much deliberation and two or three essays by moonlight, 
Bichard ended the affair by boldly covering the whole 
beneath a color that he christened “sunshine,” a cheap 
way, as he assured his cousin, the Judge, of always keep- 
ing fair weather over his head. The platform, as well 
as the eaves of the house, were surmounted by gaudily 


34 


THE PIONEERS 


painted railings, and the genius of Hiram was exerted in 
the fabrication of divers urns and mouldings, that were 
scattered profusely around this part of their labors. Rich- 
ard had originally a cunning expedient, by which the 
chimneys were intended to he so low, and so situated, 
as to resemble ornaments on the balustrades; but com- 
fort required that the chimneys should rise with the roof, 
in order that the smoke might be carried off, and they 
thus became four extremely conspicuous objects in the 
view. 

As this roof was much the most important architectural 
undertaking in which Mr. Jones was ever engaged, his 
failure produced a correspondent degree of mortification. 
At first, he whispered among his acquaintances that it 
proceeded from ignorance of the square rule on the part 
of Hiram; but as his eye became gradually accustomed to 
the object, he grew better satisfied with his labors, and 
instead of apologizing for the defects, he commenced prais- 
ing the beauties of the Mansion-house. He soon found 
hearers; and, as wealth and comfort are at all times at- 
tractive, it was, as has been said, made a model for imita- 
tion on a sinall scale. In less than two years from its 
erection, he had the pleasure of standing on the elevated 
platform, and of looking down on three humble imitators 
of its beauty. Thus it is ever with fashion, which even 
renders the faults of the great subjects of admiration. 

Marmaduke bore this deformity in his dwelling with 
great good nature, and soon contrived, by his own im- 
provements, to give an air of respectability and comfort 
to his place of residence. Still there was much of in- 
congruity, even immediately about the Mansion-house. 
Although poplars had been brought from Europe to orna-' 
ment the grounds, and willows and other trees were grad- 
ually springing up nigh the dwelling, yet many a pile of 
snow betrayed the presence of the stump of a pine ; and 
even in one or two instances, unsightly remnants of trees 
that had been partly destroyed by fire were seen rearing 
their black, glistening columns twenty or thirty feet above 
the pure white of the snow. These, which in the lan- 


THE PIONEERS 


35 


guage of the country are termed stubs, abounded in the 
open fields adjacent to the village, and were accompanied, 
occasionally, by the ruin of a pine or a hemlock that had 
been stripped of its bark, and which waved in melancholy 
grandeur its naked limbs to the blast, a skeleton of its 
former glory. But these and many other unpleasant addi- 
tions to the view were unseen by the delighted Elizabeth, 
who, as the horses moved down the side of the mountain, 
saw only in gross the cluster of houses that lay like a 
map at her feet; the fifty smokes that were curling from 
the valley to the clouds; the frozen lake, as it lay imbed- 
ded in mountains of evergreen, with the long shadows of 
the pines on its white surface, lengthening in the setting 
sun; the dark ribbon of water, that gushed from the out- 
let, and was winding its way towards the distant Chesa- 
peake — the altered, though still remembered, scenes of 
her childhood. 

Five years had wrought greater changes than a century 
would produce in countries where time and labor have 
given permanency to the works of man. To the young 
hunter and the Judge the scene had less novelty; though 
none ever emerge from the dark forests of that mountain, 
and witness the glorious scenery of that beauteous valley, 
as it bursts unexpectedly upon them, without a feeling of 
delight. The former cast one admiring glance from north 
to south, and sank his face again beneath the folds of his 
coat; while the latter contemplated, with philanthropic 
pleasure, the prospect of affluence and comfort that was 
expanding around him; the result of his own enterprise, 
and much of it the fruits of his own industry. 

The cheerful sound of sleigh-bells, however, attracted 
the attention of the whole party, as they came jingling 
up the sides of the mountain at a rate that announced 
a powerful team and a hard driver. The bushes which 
lined the highway interrupted the view, and the two 
sleighs were close upon each other before either was seen. 


36 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER IV. 

How now ? whose mare ’s dead ? what ’s the matter ? 

Shakespeabe: 2 King Henry IV : II. 1. 46. 


A large lumber-sleigh, drawn by four horses, was soon 
seen dashing through the leafless bushes which fringed 
the road. The leaders were of gray, and the pole horses 
of a jet black. Bells innumerable were suspended from 
every part of the harness where one of the tinkling balls 
could be placed; while the rapid movement of the equi- 
page, in defiance of the steep ascent, announced the de- 
sire of the driver to ring them to the utmost. The first 
glance at this singular arrangement acquainted the Judge 
with the character of those in the sleigh. It contained 
four male figures. On one of those stools that are used 
at writing-desks, lashed firmly to the sides of the vehicle, 
was seated a little man, enveloped in a great-coat fringed 
with fur, in such a manner that no part of him was visi- 
ble excepting a face of an unvarying red color. There 
was a habitual upward look about the head of this gen- 
tleman, as if dissatisfied with its natural proximity to 
the earth; and the expression of his countenance was that 
of busy care. He was the charioteer, and he guided the 
mettled animals along the precipice with a fearless eye 
and a steady hand. Immediately behind him, with his 
face towards the other two, was a tall figure, to whose 
appearance not even the duplicate overcoats which he 
wore, aided by the corner of a horse-blanket, could give 
the appearance of strength. His face was protruding from 
beneath a woolen nightcap; and when he turned to the 
vehicle of Marmaduke, as the sleighs approached each 
other, it seemed formed by nature to cut the atmosphere 
with the least possible resistance. The eyes alone ap- 
peared to create any obstacle, for from either side of his 
forehead their light, blue, glassy balls projected. The 
sallow of his countenance was too permanent to be affected 
even by the intense cold of the evening. Opposite to 


THE PIONEEKS 


37 


this personage sat a solid, short, and square figure. No 
part of his form was to be discovered through his over- 
dress, but a face that was illuminated by a pair of black 
eyes that gave the lie to every demure feature in his 
countenance. A fair, jolly wig furnished a neat and 
rounded outline to his visage, and he, as well as the other 
two, wore marten-skin caps. The fourth was a meek- 
looking, long-visaged man, without any other protection 
from the cold than that which was furnished by a black 
surtout, made with some little formality, but which was 
rather threadbare and rusty. He wore a hat of extremely 
decent proportions, though frequent brushing had quite 
destroyed its nap. His face was pale, and withal a little 
melancholy, or what might be termed of a studious com- 
plexion. The air had given it, just now, a slight and 
somewhat feverish flush. The character of his whole ap- 
pearance, especially contrasted to the air of humor in his 
next companion, was that of habitual mental care. No 
sooner had the two sleighs approached within speaking dis- 
tance, than the driver of this fantastic equipage shouted 
aloud, — 

“ Draw up in the quarry — draw up, thou king of the 
Greeks; draw into the quarry, Agamemnon, or I shall 
never be able to pass you. Welcome home, cousin ’Duke 
— welcome, welcome, black-eyed Bess. Thou seest, Mar- 
maduke, that I have taken the field with an assorted cargo, 
to do thee honor. Monsieur Le Quoi has come out with 
only one cap; old Fritz would not stay to finish the bot- 
tle ; and Mr. Grant has got to put the ‘ lastly ’ to his 

sermon yet. Even all the horses would come — by the 
bye, Judge, I must sell the blacks for you immediately ; 
they interfere, and the nigh one is a bad goer in double 
harness. I can get rid of them to ” — 

“ Sell what thou wilt, Dickon, ” interrupted the cheer- 
ful voice of the Judge, “so that thou leavest me my 

daughter and my lands. Ah ! Fritz, my old friend, this 

is a kind compliment, indeed, for seventy to pay to five- 
and-forty. Monsieur Le Quoi, I am your servant. Mr. 
Grant,” lifting his cap, “I feel indebted to your atten- 


38 


THE PIONEERS 


tion. Gentlemen, I make you acquainted with my child. 
Yours are names with which she is very familiar.” 

“Velcome, velcome, Tchooge,” said the elder of the 
party, with a strong German accent. “Miss Petsy vill 
owe me a kiss.” 

“And cheerfully will I pay it, my good sir,” cried the 
soft voice of Elizabeth; which sounded, in the clear air 
of the hills, like tones of silver, amid the loud cries of 
Richard. “I have always a kiss for my old friend, Major 
Hartmann.” 

By this time the gentleman in the front seat, who had 
been addressed as Monsieur Le Quoi, had arisen with 
some difficulty, owing to the impediment of his overcoats, 
and steadying himself by placing one hand on the stool 
of the charioteer, with the other he removed his cap, and 
bowing politely to the Judge, and profoundly to Eliza- 
beth, he paid his compliments. 

“Cover thy poll, Gaul, cover thy poll,” cried the 
driver, who was Mr. Richard Jones; “cover thy poll, or 
the frost will pluck out the remnant of thy locks. Had 
the hairs on the head of Absalom been as scarce as thine, 
he might have been living to this day.” The jokes of 
Richard never failed of exciting risibility, for he uni- 
formly did honor to his own wit; and he enjoyed a hearty 
laugh on the present occasion, while Mr. Le Quoi resumed 
his seat with a polite reciprocation in his mirth. The 
clergyman, for such was the office of Mr. Grant, modestly, 
though quite affectionately, exchanged his greetings with 
the travelers also, when Richard prepared to turn the 
heads of his horses homeward. 

It was in the quarry alone that he could effect this 
object, without ascending to the summit of the mountain. 
A very considerable excavation had been made in the side 
of the hill, at the point where Richard had succeeded in 
stopping the sleighs, from which the stones used for build- 
ing in the village were ordinarily quarried, and in which 
he now attempted to turn his team. Passing itself was 
a task of difficulty, and frequently of danger, in that 
narrow road; but Richard had to meet the additional risk 


THE PIONEERS 


39 


of turning his four-in-hand. The black civilly volun- 
teered his services to take off the leaders, and the Judge 
very earnestly seconded the measure with his advice. 
Richard treated both proposals with great disdain. 

“Why, and wherefore, cousin ’Duke?” he exclaimed, 
a little angrily: “the horses are gentle as lambs. You 
know that I broke the leaders myself, and the pole-horses 
are too near my whip to be restive. Here is Mr. Le 
Quoi, now, who must know something about driving, 
because he has rode out so often with me; I will leave 
it to Mr. Le Quoi whether there is any danger.” 

It was not in the nature of the Frenchman to disap- 
point expectations so confidently formed; although he sat 
looking down the precipice which fronted him, as Richard 
turned his leaders into the quarry, with a pair of eyes 
that stood out like those of lobsters. The German’s 
muscles were unmoved, but his quick sight scanned each 
movement. Mr. Grant placed his hands on the side of 
the sleigh, in preparation for a spring, but moral timidity 
deterred him from taking the leap that bodily apprehension 
strongly urged him to attempt. 

Richard, by a sudden application of the whip, succeeded 
in forcing the leaders into the snow-hank that covered the 
quarry; but the instant that the impatient animals suf- 
fered by the crust, through which they broke at each 
step, they positively refused to move an inch further in 
that direction. On the contrary, finding that the cries 
and blows of their driver were redoubled at this juncture, 
the leaders backed upon the pole-horses, who, in their 
turn, backed the sleigh. Only a single log lay above the 
pile which upheld the road, on the side towards the val- 
ley, and this was now buried in the snow. The sleigh 
was easily forced across so slight an impediment; and 
before Richard became conscious of his danger, one half 
of the vehicle was projected over a precipice, which fell 
perpendicularly more than a hundred feet. The French- 
man, who, by his position, had a full view of their threat- 
ened flight, instinctively threw his body as far forward 
as possible, and cried, “Ah! mon cher Monsieur Deeck! 
mon Dieu ! que faites vous ! ” 


40 


THE PIONEERS 


“Donner and blitzen, Richart,” exclaimed the veteran 
German, looking over the side of the sleigh with unusual 
emotion, “put you will preak ter sleigh and kilt ter 
horses. ” 

“Good Mr. Jones,” said the clergyman, “be prudent, 
good sir — be careful.” 

“ Get up, obstinate devils ! ” cried Richard, catching a 
bird’s-eye view of his situation, and, in his eagerness to 
move forward, kicking the stool on which he sat, “Get 
up, I say; cousin ’Duke, I shall have to sell the grays 
too ; they are the worst broken horses ! Mr. Le Quaw ! ” 
— Richard was too much agitated to regard his pronuncia- 
tion, of which he was commonly a little vain — “ Mon- 
sieur Le Quaw, pray get off my leg; you hold my leg so 
tight, that it ’s no wonder the horses back.” 

“Merciful Providence!” exclaimed the Judge, “they 
will all be killed!” 

Elizabeth gave a piercing shriek, and the black of 
Agamemnon’s face changed to a muddy white. 

At this critical moment, the young hunter, who, during 
the salutations of the parties, had sat in rather sullen 
silence, sprang from the sleigh of Marmaduke to the heads 
of the refractory leaders. The horses, who were yet suf- 
fering under the injudicious and somewhat random blows 
of Richard, were dancing up and down with that ominous 
movement that threatens a sudden and uncontrollable 
start, still pressing backwards. The youth gave the lead- 
ers a powerful jerk, and they plunged aside, and reentered 
the road in the position in which they were first halted. 
The sleigh was whirled from its dangerous position, and 
upset with the runners outwards. The German and the 
divine were thrown, rather unceremoniously, into the 
highway, but without danger to their bones. Richard 
appeared in the air, describing the segment of a circle of 
which the reins were the radii, and landed at the distance 
of some fifteen feet, in that snowbank which the horses 
had dreaded, right end uppermost. Here, as he instinc- 
tively grasped the reins, as drowning men seize at straws, 
he admirably served the purpose of an anchor. The 


THE PIONEERS 


41 


Frenchman, who was on his legs in the act of springing 
from the sleigh, took an aerial flight also, much in the 
attitude which boys assume when they play leap-frog, 
and flying off in a tangent to the curvature of his course, 
came into the snowbank head foremost, where he remained 
exhibiting two lathy legs on high, like scarecrows waving 
in a cornfield. Major Hartmann, whose self-possession 
had been admirably preserved during the whole evolution, 
was the first of the party that gained his feet and his 
voice. 

“ Ter dey vel, Kichart ! ” he exclaimed, in a voice half 
serious, half comical, “put you unloat your sleigh very 
liantily. ” 

It may he doubtful whether the attitude in which Mr. 
Grant continued for an instant after his overthrow was 
the one into which he had been thrown, or was assumed 
in humbling himself before the power that he reverenced, 
in thanksgiving at his escape. When he rose from his 
knees, he began to gaze about him, with anxious looks, 
after the welfare of his companions, while every joint in 
his body trembled with nervous agitation. There was 
some confusion in the faculties of Mr. Jones also; but as 
the mist gradually cleared from before his eyes, he saw 
that all was safe, and, with an air of great self-satisfac- 
tion, he cried, “Well! that was neatly saved, anyhow! 
it was a lucky thought in me to hold on the reins, or the 
fiery devils would have been over the mountain by this 
time. How well I recovered myself, ’Duke! Another 
moment would have been too late; but I knew just the 
spot where to touch the ofl'-leader; that blow under his 
right flank, and the sudden jerk I gave the rein, brought 
them round quite in rule, I must own myself. ” 1 

“Thou jerk! thou recover thyself, Dickon!” he said, 
“ but for that brave lad yonder, thou and thy horses, or 
rather mine, would have been dashed to pieces ; but where 
is Monsieur Le Quoi 1 ” 

1 The spectators, from immemorial usage, have a right to laugh at the 
casualties of a sleigh-ride; and the Judge was no sooner certain that no 
harm was done, than he made full use of the privilege. 


42 


THE PIONEERS 


“Oh, mon cher Juge! Mon ami!” cried a smothered 
voice, “ praise be God, I live ; vill you, Mister Agamem- 
non, he pleas’ come down ici, and help me on my leg ? ” 

The divine and the negro seized the incarcerated Gaul 
by his legs, and extricated him from a snowbank of three 
feet in depth, whence his voice had sounded as from the 
tombs. The thoughts of Mr. Le Quoi, immediately on 
his liberation, were not extremely collected; and when he 
reached the light, he threw his eyes upwards, in order to 
examine the distance he had fallen. His good humor 
returned, however, with a knowledge of his safety, though 
it was some little time before he clearly comprehended the 
case. 

“What, Monsieur,” said Kichard, who was busily as- 
sisting the black in taking off the leaders ; “ are you there ? 
I thought I saw you flying towards the top of the moun- 
tain just now.” 

“Praise be God, I no fly down into the lake,” returned 
the Frenchman, with a visage that was divided between 
pain, occasioned by a few large scratches that he had re- 
ceived in forcing his head through the crust, and the look 
of complaisance that seemed natural to his pliable features ; 
“ah! mon cher Mister Deeck, vat you do next? dere be 
noting you no try.” 

“The next thing, I trust, will he to learn to drive,” 
said the Judge, who had busied himself in throwing the 
buck, together with several other articles of baggage, from 
his own sleigh into the snow; “here are seats for you all, 
gentlemen; the evening grows piercingly cold, and the 
hour approaches for the service of Mr. Grant: we will 
leave friend Jones to repair the damages, with the assist- 
ance of Agamemnon, and hasten to a warm fire. Here, 
Dickon, are a few articles of Bess’s trumpery, that you 
can throw into your sleigh when ready; and there is also 
a deer of my taking, that I will thank you to bring. 
Aggy! remember that there will be a visit from Santa 
Claus 1 to-night.” 

1 The periodical visits of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus as he is termed, 
were never forgotten among the inhabitants of New York, until the emi- 


THE PIONEERS 


43 


The black grinned, conscious of the bribe that was 
offered him for silence on the subject of the deer, while 
Richard, without in the least waiting for the termination 
of his cousin’s speech, began his reply: — 

“Learn to drive, sayest thou, cousin ’Duke? Is there 
a man in the county who knows more of horse-flesh than 
myself? Who broke in the filly, that no one else dare 
mount; though your coachman did pretend that he had 
tamed her before I took her in hand ; hut anybody could 
see that he lied; he was a great liar, that John — what ’s 
that, a buck ? ” Richard abandoned the horses, and ran 
to the spot where Marmaduke had thrown the deer. “It 
is a buck! I am amazed! Yes, here are two holes in 
him; he has fired both barrels, and hit him each time. 
Ecod! how Marmaduke will brag! he is a prodigious 
bragger about any small matter like this now; well, to 
think that ’Duke has killed a buck before Christmas! 
There will be no such thing as living with him; they are 
both bad shots though, mere chance — mere chance; now, 
I never fired twice at a cloven foot in my life; it is hit 
or miss with me — dead or run away : had it been a bear, 
or a wild-cat, a man might have wanted both barrels. 
Here! you Aggy! how far off was the Judge when this 
buck was shot ? ” 

“Eh! Massa Richard, may be a ten rod,” cried the 
black, bending under one of the horses, with the pretense 
of fastening a buckle, but in reality to conceal the grin 
that opened a mouth from ear to ear. 

“ Ten rod ! ” echoed the other ; “ why, Aggy, the deer 
I killed last winter was at twenty; yes! if anything it 
was nearer thirty than twenty. I would n’t shoot at a 
deer at ten rod; besides, you may remember, Aggy, I 
only fired once.” 

“Yes, Massa Richard, I ’member ’em! Natty Bumppo 
fire t’ oder gun. You know, sir, all ’e folk say Natty kill 
him.” 

“ The folks lie, you black devil ! ” exclaimed Richard 

gration from New England brought in the opinions and usages of the 
Puritans. Like the “ bon homme de Noel,” he arrives at each Christmas. 


44 


THE PIONEERS 


in great heat. “I have not shot even a gray squirrel 
these four years, to which that old rascal has not laid 
claim, or some one else for him. This is a damned en- 
vious world that we live in; people are always for divid- 
ing the credit of a thing, in order to bring down merit 
to their own level. Now they have a story about the 
Patent , 1 that Hiram Doolittle helped to plan the steeple 
to St. Paul’s; when Hiram knows that it is entirely 
mine; a little taken from a print of its namesake in Lon- 
don, I own; but essentially, as to all points of genius, 
my own.” 

“I don’t know where he come from,” said the black, 
losing every mark of humor in an expression of admira- 
tion, “but eb’rybody say he wonnerful hansome.” 

“And well they may say so, Aggy,” cried Pichard, 
leaving the buck and walking up to the negro with the 
air of a man who has new interest awakened within him. 
“I think I may say, without bragging, that it is the 
handsomest and the most scientific country church in 
America. I know that the Connecticut settlers talk about 
their Wethersfield meeting-house; but I never believe 
more than half what they say, they are such unconscion- 
able braggers. Just as you have got a thing done, if 
they see it likely to be successful, they are always for 
interfering; and then it’s ten to one but they lay claim 
to half, or even all of the credit. You may remember, 
Aggy, when I painted the sign of the “Bold Dragoon” 
for Captain Hollister, there was that fellow, who was 
about town laying brick dust on the houses, came one day 
and offered to mix what I call the streaky black, for the 
tail and mane, and then, because it looks like horse hair, 
he tells everybody that the sign was painted by himself 
and Squire Jones. If Marmaduke don’t send that fellow 

1 The grants of land, made either by the Crown or the State, were by 
letters patent under the great seal, and the term “patent” is usually 
applied to any district of extent, thus conceded ; though under the Crown, 
manorial rights being often granted with the soil, in the older counties 
the word “manor” is frequently used. There are many “manors” in 
New York, though all political and judicial rights have ceased. 


THE PIONEERS 


45 


off the Patent, he may ornament his village with his own 
hands for me.” 

Here Richard paused a moment, and cleared his throat 
by a loud hem, while the negro, who was all this time 
busily engaged in preparing the sleigh, proceeded with 
his work in respectful silence. Owing to the religious 
scruples of the Judge, Aggy was the servant of Richard, 
who had his services for a time* and who, of course, com- 
manded a legal claim to the respect of the young negro. 
But when any dispute between his lawful and His real 
master occurred, the black felt too much deference for 
both to express any opinion. In the meanwhile, Richard 
continued watching the negro as he fastened buckle after 
buckle, until, stealing a look of consciousness towards the 
other, he continued: “Now, if that young man who was 
in your sleigh is a real Connecticut settler, he will be 
telling everybody how he saved my horses, when, if he 
had let them alone for half a minute longer, I would have 
brought them in much better, without upsetting, with the 
whip and rein — it spoils a horse to give him his head. 
I should not wonder if I had to sell the whole team, just 
for that one jerk he gave them.” Richard paused and 
hemmed; for his conscience smote him a little for cen- 
suring a man who had just saved his life. “Who is the 
lad, Aggy? I don’t remember to have seen him before.” 

The black recollected the hint about Santa Claus; and 
while he briefly explained how they had taken up the 
person in question on the top of the mountain, he forbore 
to add anything concerning the accident of the wound, 

l The manumission of the slaves in New York has been gradual. When 
public opinion became strong in their favor, there grew up a custom of 
buying the services of a slave, for six or eight years, with a condition to 
liberate him at the end of the period. Then the law provided that all 
born after a certain day should be free, the males at twenty-eight, and 
the females at twenty-five. After this the owner was obliged to cause 
his servants to be taught to read and write before they reached the age 
of eighteen, and, finally, the few that remained were all unconditionally 
liberated in 1826, or after the publication of this tale. It was quite usual 
for men more or less connected with the Quakers, who never held slaves, 
to adopt the first expedient. 


46 


THE PIONEERS 


only saying that he believed the youth was a stranger. 
It was so usual for men of the first rank to take into 
their sleighs any one they found toiling through the snow, 
that Richard was perfectly satisfied with this explanation, 
He heard Aggy with great attention, and then remarked: 
“Well, if the lad has not been spoiled by the people in 
Templeton, he may he a modest young man, and as he 
certainly meant well, I shall take some notice of him; 
perhaps he is land- hunting — I say, Aggy, may he he is 
out hunting ? ” 

“Eh! — yes, Massa Richard,” said the black, a little 
confused; for as Richard did all the flogging, he stood in 
great terror of his master, in the main. “Yes, sir, I 
b’lieve he be.” 

“ Had he a pack and an axe ? ” 

“No, sir, only he rifle.” 

“ Rifle ! ” exclaimed Richard, observing the confusion 
of the negro, which now amounted to terror. “By Jove, 
he killed the deer! I knew that Marmaduke couldn’t 
kill a buck on the jump; how was it, Aggy? tell me all 
about it, and I ’ll roast ’Duke quicker than he can roast 
his saddle — how was it, Aggy ? The lad shot the buck, 
and the Judge bought it, ha! and he is taking the youth 
down to get the pay ? ” 

The pleasure of this discovery had put Richard in such 
a good humor, that the negro’s fears in some measure 
vanished, and he remembered the stocking of Santa Claus. 
After a gulp or two, he made out to reply : — 

“You forgit a two shot, sir? ” 

“Don’t lie, you black rascal!” cried Richard, stepping 
on the snowbank to measure the distance from his lash 
to the negro’s back; “speak truth, or I trounce you.” 
While speaking, the stock was slowly rising in Richard’s 
right hand, and the lash drawing through his left, in the 
scientific manner with which drummers apply the cat; 
and Agamemnon, after turning each side of himself to- 
wards his master, and finding both equally unwilling to 
remain there, fairly gave in. In a very few words he 
made his master acquainted with the truth, at the same 


THE PIONEERS 


47 


time earnestly conjuring Richard to protect him from the 
displeasure of the Judge. 

“I’ll do it, boy, I’ll do it,” cried the other, rubbing 
his hands with delight; “say nothing, but leave me to 
manage ’Duke: I have a great mind to leave the deer on 
the hill, and to make the fellow send for his own carcass: 
but no, I will let Marmaduke tell a few bounces about it 
before I come out upon him. Come, hurry in, Aggy, I 
must help to dress the lad’s wound: this Yankee 1 doc- 
tor knows nothing of surgery — I had to hold old Milli- 
gan’s leg for him while he cut it oft.” Richard was now 
seated on the stool again, and the black taking the hind 
seat the steeds were put in motion towards home. As 
they dashed down the hill, on a fast trot, the driver 
occasionally turned his face to Aggy, and continued speak- 
ing; for notwithstanding their recent rupture, the most 
perfect cordiality was again existing between them. “ This 
goes to prove that I turned the horses with the reins, for 
no man who is shot in the right shoulder can have strength 
enough to bring round such obstinate devils. I knew 
I did it from the first; but I did not want to multiply 
words with Marmaduke about it. Will you bite, you 
villain ? — hip, boys, hip ! Old Natty too, that is the 
best of it! Well, well, ’Duke will say no more about 
my deer; and the judge fired both barrels, and hit no- 
thing but a poor lad, who was behind a pine tree. I 
must help that quack to take out the buckshot for the 
poor fellow.” In this manner Richard descended the 
mountain; the bells ringing, and his tongue going, until 

i In America the term Yankee is of local meaning. It is thought to 
be derived from the manner in which the Indians of New England pro- 
nounced the word “English” or “Yengeese.” New York being origi- 
nally a Dutch province, the term of course was not known there, and 
further south different dialects among the natives themselves probably 
produced a different pronounciation. Marmaduke and his cousin, being 
Pennsylvanians by birth, were not Yankees in the American sense of the 
word. [Cooper probably noted that the European use of the word ap- 
plied pretty generally to all the inhabitants of the Union. During the 
war for the Union the term Yankee was commonly used by the Confeder- 
ates in speaking of the Unionists.] 


48 


THE PIONEERS 


they entered the village, when the whole attention of the 
driver was devoted to a display of his horsemanship, to 
the admiration of all the gaping women and children who 
thronged the windows to witness the arrival of their land- 
lord and his daughter. 


✓ 

CHAPTER Y. 

Nathaniel’s coat, sir, was not fully made, 

And Gabriel’s pumps were all unpink’d i’ th’ heel ; 

There was no link to color Peter’s hat, 

And Walter’s dagger was not come from sheathing ; 

There were none fine, but Adam, Ralph, and Gregory. 

Shakespeare : Taming of the Shrew , iv. 1. 135-139. 


After winding along the side of the mountain, the 
road, on reaching the gentle declivity which lay at the 
base of the hill, turned at a right angle to its former 
course, and shot down an inclined plane, directly into 
the village of Templeton. The rapid little stream that 
we have already mentioned was crossed by a bridge of 
hewn timber, which manifested, by its rude construction, 
and the unnecessary size of its framework, both the value 
of labor and the abundance of materials. This little tor- 
rent, whose dark waters gushed over the limestones that 
lined its bottom, was nothing less than one of the many 
sources of the Susquehanna ; a river to which the Atlantic 
herself has extended an arm in welcome. It was at this 
point that the powerful team of Mr. Jones brought him 
up to the more sober steeds of our travelers. A small 
hill was risen, and Elizabeth found herself at once amidst 
the incongruous dwellings of the village. The street was 
of the ordinary width, notwithstanding the eye might 
embrace, in one view, thousands and tens of thousands 
of acres, that were yet tenanted only by the beasts of the 
forest. But such had been the will of her father, and 
such had also met the wishes of his followers. To them 
the road that made the most rapid approaches to the 
condition of the old, — or, as they expressed it, the down 
countries, — was the most pleasant; and surely, nothing 


THE PIONEERS 


49 


could look more like civilization than a city, even if it 
lay in a wilderness ! The width of the street, for so it 
was called, might have been one hundred feet; but the 
track for the sleighs w’as much more limited. On either 
side of the highway were piled huge heaps of logs that 
were daily increasing rather than diminishing in size, not- 
withstanding the enormous fires that might be seen through 
every window. 

The last object at which Elizabeth gazed when they 
renewed their journey, after the rencontre with Richard, 
was the sun, as it expanded in the refraction of the hori- 
zon, and over whose disk the dark umbrage of a pine was 
stealing while it slowly sank behind the western hills. 
But his setting rays darted along the openings of the 
mountain she was on, and lighted the shining covering 
of the birches until their smooth and glossy coats nearly 
rivaled the mountain-sides in color. The outline of each 
dark pine was delineated far in the depths of the forest; 
and the rocks, too smooth and too perpendicular to retain 
the snow that had fallen, brightened as if smiling at the 
leave-taking of the luminary. But at each step, as they 
descended, Elizabeth observed that they were leaving the 
day behind them. Even the heatless but bright rays of 
a December sun were missed, as they glided into the cold 
gloom of the valley. Along the summits of the moun- 
tains in the eastern range, it is true, the light still lin- 
gered, receding step by step from the earth into the clouds 
that were gathering with the evening mist about the lim- 
ited horizon; but the frozen lake lay without a shadow 
on its bosom ; the dwellings were becoming already gloomy 
and indistinct; and the woodcutters were shouldering their 
axes, and preparing to enjoy, throughout the long evening 
before them, the comforts of those exhilarating fires that 
their labor had been supplying with fuel. They paused 
only to gaze at the passing sleighs, to lift their caps to 
Marmaduke, to exchange familiar nods with Richard, and 
each disappeared in his dwelling. The paper curtains 
dropped behind our travelers in every window, shutting 
from the air even the firelight of the cheerful apartments; 


50 


THE PIONEERS 


and when the horses of her father turned, with a rapid 
whirl, into the open gate of the Mansion-house, and no- 
thing stood before her but the cold, dreary stone walls of 
the building, as she approached them through an avenue 
of young and leafless poplars, Elizabeth felt as if all the 
loveliness of the mountain-view had vanished like the 
fancies of a dream. Marmaduke retained so much of his 
early habits as to reject the use of bells; but the equipage 
of Mr. Jones came dashing through the gate after them, 
sending its jingling sounds through every cranny of the 
building, and in a moment the dwelling was in an uproar. 

On a stone platform, of ratheT small proportions con- 
sidering the size of the building, Bichard and Hiram had, 
conjointly, reared four little columns of wood, which in 
their turn supported the shingled roofs of the portico — 
this was the name that Mr. Jones had thought proper to 
give to a very plain, covered entrance. The ascent to the 
platform was by five or six stone steps, somewhat hastily 
laid together, and which the frost had already begun to 
move from their symmetrical positions. But the evils 
of a cold climate, and a superficial construction, did not 
end here. As the steps lowered, the platform necessarily 
fell also, and the foundations actually left the superstruc- 
ture suspended in the air, leaving an open space of a foot 
between the base of the pillars and the stones on which 
they had originally been placed. It was lucky for the 
whole fabric that the carpenter who did the manual part 
of the labor had fastened the canopy of this classic en- 
trance so firmly to the side of the house, that when the 
base deserted the superstructure in the manner we have 
described, and the pillars, for the want of a foundation, 
were no longer of service to support the roof, the roof 
was able to uphold the pillars. Here was, indeed, an 
unfortunate gap left in the ornamental part of Bichard’s 
column; but, like the window in Aladdin’s palace, it 
seemed only left in order to prove the fertility of its mas- 
ter’s resources. The composite order again offered its 
advantages, and a second edition of the base was given, 
as the booksellers say, with additions and improvements. 


THE PIONEERS 


51 


It was necessarily larger, and it was properly ornamented 
with mouldings; still the steps continued to yield, and, 
at the moment when Elizabeth returned to her father’s 
door, a few rough wedges were driven under the pillar to 
keep them steady, and to prevent their weight from sepa- 
rating them from the pediment which they ought to have 
supported. 

From the great door which opened into the porch 
emerged two or three female domestics and one male. 
The latter was bare-headed, but evidently more dressed 
than usual, and, on the whole, was of so singular a forma- 
tion and attire as to deserve a more minute description. 
He was about five feet in height, of a square and athletic 
frame, with a pair of shoulders that would have fitted a 
grenadier. His low stature was rendered the more strik- 
ing by a bend forward that he was in the habit of assum- 
ing, for no apparent reason, unless it might be to give 
greater freedom to his arms in a particularly sweeping 
swing, that they constantly practiced when their master 
was in motion. His face was long, of a fair complexion, 
burnt to a fiery red; with a snub nose, cocked into an 
inveterate pug; a mouth of enormous dimensions, filled 
with fine teeth; and a pair of blue eyes that seemed to 
look about them, on surrounding objects, with habitual 
contempt. His head composed full one fourth of his 
whole length, and the queue that depended from its rear 
occupied another. He wore a coat of very light drab 
cloth, with buttons as large as dollars, bearing the impres- 
sion of a “foul anchor.” The skirts were extremely long, 
reaching quite to the calf, and were broad in proportion. 
Beneath, there were a vest and breeches of red plush, 
somewhat worn and soiled. He had shoes with large 
buckles, and stockings of blue and white stripes. 

This odd-looking figure reported himself to be a native 
of the county of Cornwall, in the island of Great Britain. 
His boyhood had passed in the neighborhood of the tin 
mines, and his youth as the cabin-boy of a smuggler be- 
tween Falmouth and Guernsey. From this trade he had 
been impressed into the service of his king, and, for the 


52 


THE PIONEERS 


want of a better, had been taken into the cabin, first as 
a servant, and finally as steward to the captain. Here 
he acquired the art of making chowder, lobscouse, 1 and 
one or two other sea-dishes, and, as he was fond of say- 
ing had an opportunity of seeing the world. With the 
exception of one or two outports in France, and an occa- 
sional visit to Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Deal, he had 
in reality seen no more of mankind, however, than if he 
had been riding a donkey in one of his native mines. 
But, being discharged from the navy at the peace of ’83, 
he declared that, as he had seen all the civilized parts of 
the earth, he was inclined to make a trip to the wilds of 
America. We will not tra®e him in his brief wanderings, 
under the influence of that spirit of emigration that some- 
times induces a dapper cockney to quit his home, and 
lands him before the sound of Bow bells is out of his 
ears within the roar of the cataract of Niagara; but shall 
only add that, at a very early day, even before Elizabeth 
had been sent to school, he had found his way into the 
family of Marmaduke Temple, where, owing to a combi- 
nation of qualities that will be developed in the course of 
the tale, he held under Mr. Jones the office of major- 
domo. The name of this worthy was Benjamin Penguil- 
lan, according to his own pronunciation; but, owing to a 
marvelous tale that he was in the habit of relating, con- 
cerning the length of time he had to labor to keep his 
ship from sinking after Rodney’s victory, he had univer- 
sally acquired the nickname of Ben Pump. 

By the side of Benjamin, and pressing forward as if 
a little jealous of her station, stood a middle-aged woman, 
dressed in calico, rather violently contrasted in color with 
a tall, meagre, shapeless figure, sharp features, and a some- 
what acute expression of her physiognomy. Her te^th 
were mostly gone, and what did remain were of a light 
yellow. The skin of her nose was drawn tightly over the 
member, to hang in large wrinkles in her cheeks and about 
her mouth. She took snuff in such quantities as to cre- 

1 [A sailor’s dish, formerly called lob's course , consisting of salt meat, 
stewed with vegetables, and ship’s biscuit]. 


THE PIONEERS 


53 


ate the impression that she owed the saffron of her lips 
and the adjacent parts to this circumstance; but it was 
the unvarying color of her whole face. She presided over 
the female part of the domestic arrangements, in the ca- 
pacity of housekeeper; was a spinster, and bore the name 
of Remarkable Pettibone. To Elizabeth she was an entire 
stranger, having been introduced into the family since the 
death of her mother. 

In addition to these, were three or four subordinate 
menials, mostly black, some appearing at the principal 
door, and some running from the end of the building 
where stood the entrance to the cellar-kitchen. 

Besides these there was a general rush from Richard’s 
kennel, accompanied with every canine tone, from the 
howl of the wolf-dog to the petulant hark of the terrier. 
The master received their boisterous salutations with a 
variety of imitations from his own throat, when the dogs, 
probably from shame of being outdone, ceased their out- 
cry. One stately, powerful mastiff, who wore round his 
neck a brass collar, with “M. T.” engraved in large let- 
ters on the rim, alone was silent. He walked majestically 
amid the confusion to the side of the Judge, where, re- 
ceiving a kind pat or two, he turned to Elizabeth, who 
even stooped to kiss him, as she called him kindly by the 
name of “Old Brave . ” The animal seemed to know her, 
as she ascended the steps, supported by Monsieur Le Quoi 
and her father, in order to protect her from falling on the 
ice with which they were covered. He looked wistfully 
after her figure, and when the door closed on the whole 
party he laid himself in a kennel that was placed nigh 
by, as if conscious that the house contained something of 
additional value to guard. 

Elizabeth followed her father, who paused a moment 
to whisper a message to one of his domestics, into a large 
hall, that was dimly lighted by two candles, placed in 
high, old-fashioned, brass candlesticks. The door closed, 
and the party were at once removed from an atmosphere 
that was nearly at zero to one of sixty degrees above. 
In the centre of the hall stood an enormous stove, the 


54 


THE PIONEERS 


sides of which appeared to be quivering with heat; from 
which a large, straight pipe, leading through the ceiling 
above, carried off the smoke. An iron basin containing 
water was placed on this furnace, for such only it could 
be called, in order to preserve a proper humidity in the 
apartment. The room was carpeted, and furnished with 
convenient, substantial furniture — some of which was 
brought from the city, and the remainder having been 
manufactured by the mechanics of Templeton. There 
was a sideboard of mahogany, inlaid with ivory, and bear- 
ing enormous handles of glittering brass, and groaning 
under the piles of silver plate. . Near it stood a set of 
prodigious tables, made of the Avild cherry to imitate the 
imported wood of the sideboard, but plain and without 
ornament of any kind. Opposite to these stood a smaller 
table, formed from a lighter-colored wood, through the 
grains of which the wavy lines of the curled maple of the 
mountains were beautifully undulating. Near to this, in 
a corner, stood a heavy, old-fashioned, brass-faced clock, 
encased in a high box of the dark hue of the black wal- 
nut from the seashore. An enormous settee, or sofa, cov- 
ered with light chintz, stretched along the walls for near 
twenty feet on one side of the hall; and chairs of wood, 
painted a light yellow, with black lines that were drawn 
by no very steady hand, were ranged opposite, and in 
the intervals between the other pieces of furniture. A 
Fahrenheit’s thermometer, in a mahogany case, and with 
a barometer annexed, was hung against the Avail, at some 
little distance from the stove, which Benjamin consulted 
every half hour with prodigious exactitude. Two small 
glass chandeliers Avere suspended at equal distances be- 
tween the stove and the outer doors, one of which opened 
at each end of the hall, and gilt lustres Avere affixed to 
the framework of the numerous side doors that led from 
the apartment. Some little display in architecture had 
been made in constructing these frames and casings, which 
were surmounted with pediments that bore each a little 
pedestal in its centre : on these pedestals were small busts 
in blacked plaster of Paris. The style of the pedestals, 


THE PIONEERS 


55 


as well as the selection of the busts, were all due to the 
taste of Mr. Jones. On one stood Homer, a most strik- 
ing likeness, Richard affirmed, “as any one might see, 
for it was blind. ” Another bore the image of a smooth 
visaged gentleman with a pointed beard, whom he called 
Shakespeare. A third ornament was an urn, which from 
its shape, Richard was accustomed to say, intended to 
represent itself as holding the ashes of Dido. A fourth 
was certainly old Franklin, in his cap and spectacles. A 
fifth as surely bore the dignified composure of the face of 
Washington. A sixth was a nondescript, representing 
“a man with a shirt collar open,” to use the language of 
Richard, “with a laurel on his head; it was Julius Csesar 
or Dr. Faustus; there were good reasons for believing 
either. ” 

The walls were hung with a dark, lead-colored English 
paper that represented Britannia weeping over the tomb 
of Wolfe. The hero himself stood at a little distance 
from the mourning goddess, and at the edge of the paper. 
Each width contained the figure, with the slight exception 
of one arm of the General, which ran over on the next 
piece, so that when Richard essayed with his own hands 
to put together this delicate outline, some difficulties oc- 
curred that prevented a nice conjunction; and Britannia 
had reason to lament, in addition to the loss of her favo- 
rite’s life, numberless cruel amputations of his right arm. 

The luckless cause of these unnatural divisions now 
announced his presence in the hall by a loud crack of his 
whip. 

“Why, Benjamin! you Ben Pump! is this the manner 
in which you receive the heiress 1 ” he cried. “ Excuse 
him, cousin Elizabeth. The arrangements were too intri- 
cate to be trusted to every one ; but now I am here, things 
will go on better. Come, light up, Mr. Penguillan, light 
up, light up, and let us see one another’s faces. Well, 
’Duke, I have brought home your deer; what is to be 
done with it, ha 1 ” 

“By the Lord, Squire,” commenced Benjamin in reply, 
first giving his mouth a wipe with the back of his hand, 


56 


THE PIONEERS 


“if this here thing had been ordered sum’at earlier in the 
day, it might have been got up, d’ ye see, to your liking. 
I had mustered all hands, and was exercising candles, 
when you hove in sight; but when the women heard your 
hells they started an end, as if they were riding the boat- 
swain’s colt; and, if-so-be there is that man in the house 
who can bring up a parcel of women when they have got 
headway on them, until they ’ve run out the end of their 
rope, his name is not Benjamin Pump. But Miss Betsey 
here must have altered more than a privateer in disguise, 
since she has got on her woman’s duds, if she will take 
offense with an old fellow for the small matter of lighting 
a few candles.” 

Elizabeth and her father continued silent, for both ex- 
perienced the same sensation on entering the hall. The 
former had resided one year in the building before she 
left home for school, and the figure of its lamented mis- 
tress was missed by both husband and child. 

But candles had been placed in the chandeliers and 
lustres, and the attendants were so far recovered from 
surprise as to recollect their use; the oversight was imme- 
diately remedied, and in a minute the apartment was in 
a blaze of light. 

The slight melancholy of our heroine and her father 
was banished by this brilliant interruption ; and the whole 
party began to lay aside the numberless garments they 
had worn in the air. 

During this operation, Bichard kept up a desultory dia- 
logue with the different domestics, occasionally throwing 
out a remark to the Judge concerning the deer; but as 
his conversation at such moments was much like an ac- 
companiment on a piano, a thing that is heard without 
being attended to, we will not undertake the task of re- 
cording his diffuse discourse. 

The instant that Bemarkable Pettibone had executed 
her portion of the labor in illuminating, she returned to 
a position near Elizabeth, with the apparent motive of 
receiving the clothes that the other threw aside, but in 
reality to examine, with an air of curiosity not unmixed 


THE PIONEERS 


57 


with jealousy, the appearance of the lady who was to 
supplant her in the administration of their domestic econ- 
omy. The housekeeper felt a little appalled, when, after 
cloaks, coats, shawls, and socks had been taken olf in suc- 
cession, the large black hood was removed, and the dark 
ringlets, shining like the raven’s wing, fell from her head, 
and left the sweet but commanding features of the young 
lady exposed to view. Nothing could be fairer and more 
spotless than the forehead of Elizabeth and preserve the 
appearance of life and health. Her nose would have been 
called Grecian, but for a softly rounded swell that gave 
in character to the feature what it lost in beauty. Her 
mouth, at first sight, seemed only made for love; hut the 
instant that its muscles moved, every expression that 
womanly dignity could utter played around it with the 
flexibility of female grace. It spoke not only to the ear 
but to the eye. So much, added to a form of exquisite 
proportions, rather full and rounded for her years, and of 
the tallest medium height, she inherited from her mother. 
Even the color of her eye, the arched brows, and the 
long silken lashes, came from the same source; but its 
expression was her father’s. Inert and composed, it was 
soft, benevolent, and attractive; but it could be roused, 
and that without much difficulty. At such moments it 
was still beautiful, though it was a little severe. As the 
last shawl fell aside, and she stood dressed in a rich blue 
riding-habit that fitted her form with the nicest exact- 
ness, her cheeks burning with roses, that bloomed the 
richer for the heat of the hall, and her eyes slightly suf- 
fused with moisture that rendered their ordinary beauty 
more dazzling, and with every feature of her speaking 
countenance illuminated by the lights that flared around 
her, Kemarkable felt that her own power had ended. 

The business of unrobing had been simultaneous. 
Marmaduke appeared in a suit of plain neat black; Mon- 
sieur Le Quoi in a coat of snuff color, covering a vest 
of embroidery, with breeches, and silk stockings, and 
buckles — that were commonly thought to be of paste. 
Major Hartmann wore a coat of sky-blue, with large brass 


58 


THE PIONEERS 


buttons, a club-wig, and boots; and Mr. Richard Jones 
had set off his dapper little form in a frock of bottle- 
green, with bullet- buttons, by one of which the sides 
were united over his well-rounded waist, opening above 
so as to show a jacket of red cloth, with an under- vest 
of flannel faced with green velvet, and below, so as to 
exhibit a pair of buckskin breeches, with long, soiled, 
white top-boots and spurs; one of the latter a little bent, 
from its recent attacks on the stool. 

When the young lady had extricated herself from her 
garments, she was at liberty to gaze about her, and to 
examine not only the household over which she was to 
preside but also the air and manner in which their do- 
mestic arrangements were conducted. Although there 
was much incongruity in the furniture and appearance of 
the hall, there was nothing mean. The floor was car- 
peted, even in its remotest corners. The brass candle- 
sticks, the gilt lustres, and the glass chandeliers, whatever 
might be their keeping as to propriety and taste, were 
admirably kept as to all the purposes of use and comfort. 
They were clean and glittering in the strong light of the 
apartment. Compared with the chill aspect of the De- 
cember night without, the warmth and brilliancy of the 
apartment produced an effect that was not unlike enchant- 
ment. Her eye had not time to detect in detail the little 
errors, which in truth existed, but was glancing around 
her in delight, when an object arrested her view that was 
in strong contrast to the smiling faces and neatly attired 
personages who had thus assembled to do honor to the heir- 
ess of Templeton. 

In a corner of the hall near the grand entrance stood 
the young hunter, unnoticed, and for the moment appar- 
ently forgotten. But even the forgetfulness of the Judge, 
which, under the influence of strong emotion, had ban- 
ished the recollection of the wound of this stranger, 
seemed surpassed by the absence of mind in the youth 
himself. On entering the apartment he had mechanically 
lifted his cap, and exposed a head covered with hair that 
rivaled in color and gloss the locks of Elizabeth. No- 


THE PIONEERS 


59 


thing could have wrought a greater transformation than 
the single act of removing the rough foxskin cap. If 
there was much that was prepossessing in the countenance 
of the young hunter, there was something even noble in 
the rounded outlines of his head and brow. The very air 
and manner with which the member haughtily maintained 
itself over the coarse and even wild attire in which the 
rest of his frame was clad, bespoke not only familiarity 
with a splendor that in those new settlements was thought 
to be unequaled, but something very like contempt also. 

The hand that held the cap rested lightly on the little 
ivory-mounted piano of Elizabeth, with neither rustic re- 
straint nor obtrusive vulgarity. A single finger touched 
the instrument, as if accustomed to dwell on such places. 
His other arm was extended to its utmost length, and the 
hand grasped the barrel of his long rifle with something 
like convulsive energy. The act and the attitude were 
both involuntary, and evidently proceeded from a feeling 
much deeper than that of vulgar surprise. His appear- 
ance, connected as it was with the rough exterior of his 
dress, rendered him entirely distinct from the busy group 
that were moving across the other end of the long hall, 
occupied in receiving the travelers, and exchanging their 
welcomes; and Elizabeth continued to gaze at him in 
wonder. The contraction of the stranger’s brows in- 
creased as his eyes moved slowly from one object to an- 
other. For moments the expression of his countenance 
was fierce, and then again it seemed to pass away in some 
painful emotion. The arm that was extended bent, and 
brought the hand nigh to his face, when his head dropped 
upon it, and concealed the wonderfully speaking linea- 
ments. 

“We forget, dear sir, the strange gentleman ’ 7 — for 
her life Elizabeth could not call him otherwise — “whom 
we have brought here for assistance, and to whom we 
owe every attention . 77 

All eyes were instantly turned in the direction of those 
of the speaker, and the youth rather proudly elevated his 
head again while he answered : — 


60 


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“My wound is trifling, and I believe that Judge Tem- 
ple sent for a physician the moment we arrived.” 

“ Certainly, ” said Marmaduke; “I have not forgotten 
the object of thy visit, young man, nor the nature of my 
debt. ” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed Richard, with something of a wag- 
gish leer, “thou owest the lad for the venison, I suppose, 
that thou killed, cousin ’Duke ! Marmaduke ! Marma- 
duke! That was a marvelous tale of thine about the 
buck! Here, young man, are two dollars for the deer, 
and Judge Temple can do no less than pay the doctor. 
I shall charge you nothing for my services, but you shall 
not fare the worse for that. Come, come, ’Duke, don’t 
be down-hearted about it; if you missed the buck, you 
contrived to shoot this poor fellow through a pine-tree. 
Now I own that you have beat me; I never did such 
a thing in all my life.” 

“And I hope never will,” returned the Judge, “if you 
are to experience the uneasiness that I have suffered. 
But be of good cheer, my young friend, the injury must 
be small, as thou movest thy arm with apparent freedom. ” 

“Don’t make the matter worse, ’Duke, by pretending 
to talk about surgery,” interrupted Mr. Jones, with a 
contemptuous wave of the hand ; “ it is a science that can 
only be learnt by practice. You know that my grand- 
father was a doctor, but you have n’t got a drop of medical 
blood in your veins. These kind of things run in fami- 
lies. All my family by the father’s side had a knack at 
physic. There was my uncle that was killed at Brandy- 
wine, — he died as easy again as any other man in the 
regiment, just from knowing how to hold his breath natu- 
rally. Dew men know how to breathe naturally.” 

“I doubt not, Dickon,” returned the Judge, meeting 
the bright smile which, in spite of himself, stole over the 
stranger’s features, “that thy family thoroughly under- 
stood the art of letting life slip through their fingers.” 

Richard heard him quite coolly, and putting a hand in 
either pocket of his surtout, so as to press forward the 
skirts, began to whistle a tune; but the desire to reply 


THE PIONEERS 


61 


overcame his philosophy, and with great heat he ex- 
claimed : — 

“You may affect to smile, Judge Temple, at hereditary 
virtues, if you please: hut there is not a man on your 
Patent who don’t know better. Here, even this young 
man, who has never seen anything but hears, and deer, 
and woodchucks, knows better than to believe virtues are 
not transmitted in families. Don’t you, friend?” 

“I believe that vice is not,” said the stranger abruptly, 
his eye glancing from the father to the daughter. 

“The Squire is right, Judge,” observed Benjamin, 
with a knowing nod of his head towards Bichard that 
bespoke the cordiality between them. “Now, in the old 
country, the king’s majesty touches for the evil , 1 and 
that is a disorder that the greatest doctor in the fleet, or, 
for the matter of that, admiral either, can’t cure; only 
the king’s majesty or a man that ’s been hanged. Yes, 
the Squire is right, for if so be that he was n’t, how is 
it that the seventh son always is a doctor, whether he 
ships for the cockpit or not? Now, when we fell in 
with the mounsheers, under De Grasse, d’ ye see, we had 
aboard of us a doctor ” — 

“Very well, Benjamin,” interrupted Elizabeth, glancing 
her eyes from the hunter to Monsieur Le Quoi, who was 
most politely attending to what fell from each individual 
in succession, “you shall tell me of that, and all your 
entertaining adventures together; just now, a room must 
be prepared, in which the arm of this gentleman can be 
dressed. ” 

“I will attend to that myself, cousin Elizabeth,” ob- 
served Bichard, somewhat haughtily. “The young man 
shall not suffer because Marmaduke chooses to be a little 
obstinate. Follow me, my friend, and I will examine the 
hurt myself.” 

“It will be well to wait for the physician,” said the 
hunter, coldly; “he cannot be distant.” 

1 [The king’s evil, scrofula, was supposed to be cured by the king’s 
touch ; first practiced by Edward the Confessor in 1058. The custom 
was dropped by George I., 1714]. 


62 


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Richard paused and looked at the speaker, a little as- 
tonished at the language, and a good deal appalled at the 
refusal. He construed the latter into an act of hostility, 
and placing his hands in the pockets again, he walked up 
to Mr. Grant, and putting his face close to the counte- 
nance of the divine, said in an undertone, — 

“Now, mark my words: there will he a story among 
the settlers, that all our necks would have been broken 
hut for that fellow, as if I did not know how to drive. 
Why, you might have turned the horses yourself, sir — 
nothing was easier ; it was only pulling hard on the nigh 
rein, and touching the off flank of the leader. I hope, 
my dear sir, you are not at all hurt by the upset the lad 
gave us ? ” 

The reply "was interrupted by the entrance of the vil- 
lage physician. 


CHAPTER VI. 


And about his shelves, 

A beggarly account of empty boxes, 

Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, 

Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses, 

Were thinly scattered to make up a show. 

Shakespeake : Romeo and Juliet, v. 1. 44-48. 

Doctor Elnathan Todd, for such was the name of 
the man of physic, was commonly thought to be, among 
the settlers, a gentleman of great mental endowments; 
and he was assuredly of rare personal proportions. In 
height he measured, without his shoes, exactly six feet 
and four inches. His hands, feet, and knees corresponded 
in every respect with this formidable stature; but every 
other part of his frame appeared to have been intended 
for a man several sizes smaller, if we except the length 
of the limbs. His shoulders were square, in one sense 
at least, being in a right line from one side to the other; 
but they were so narrow, that the long dangling arms 
they supported seemed to issue out of his back. His neck 
possessed, in an eminent degree, the property of length 


THE PIONEERS 


63 


to which we have alluded, and it was topped by a small 
bullet-head, that exhibited on one side a bush of bris- 
tling brown hair, and on the other a short, twinkling 
visage that appeared to maintain a constant struggle with 
itself in order to look wise. He was the youngest son 
of a farmer in the western part of Massachusetts, who, 
being in somewhat easy circumstances, had allowed this 
boy to shoot up to the height we have mentioned without 
the ordinary interruptions of field-labor, wood-chopping, 
and such other toils as were imposed on his brothers. 
Elnathan was indebted for this exemption from labor in 
some measure to his extraordinary growth, which, leav- 
ing him pale, inanimate, and listless, induced his tender 
mother to pronounce him “a sickly boy, and one that was 
not equal to work, but who might earn a living, comfort- 
ably enough, by taking to pleading law, or turning min- 
ister, or doctoring, or some such like easy calling.” Still 
there was great uncertainty which of these vocations the 
youth was best endowed to fill; but, having no other 
employment, the stripling was constantly lounging about 
the “ homestead ” munching green apples, and hunting 
for sorrel; when the same sagacious eye that had brought 
to light his latent talents, seized upon this circumstance, 
as a clue to his future path through the turmoils of the 
world. “Elnathan was cut out for a doctor, she knew, 
for he was forever digging for herbs, and tasting all kinds 
of things that growed about the lots. Then again he had 
a natural love for doctor-stuff, for when she had left the 
bilious pills out for her man, all nicely covered with 
maple sugar, just ready to take, Nathan had come in, and 
swallowed them, for all the world as if they were nothing, 
while Ichabod (her husband) could never get one down 
without making such desperate faces that it was awful to 
look on.” 

This discovery decided the "matter. Elnathan, then 
about fifteen, was, much like a wild colt, caught and 
trimmed by clipping his bushy locks; dressed in a suit 
of homespun dyed in the butternut bark; furnished with 
a New Testament, and a Webster’s Spelling Book, and 


64 


THE PIONEERS 


sent to school. As the hoy was by nature quite shrewd 
enough, and had previously, at odd times, laid the founda- 
tions of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he was soon 
conspicuous in the school for his learning. The delighted 
mother had the gratification of hearing, from the lips of 
the master, that her son was a “prodigious boy, and far 
above all his class.” He also thought that “the youth 
had a natural love for doctoring, as he had known him 
frequently advise the smaller children against eating too 
much; and once or twice, when the ignorant little things 
had persevered in opposition to Elnathan’s advice, he had 
known her son empty the school- baskets with his own 
mouth, to prevent the consequences.” 

Soon after this comfortable declaration from his school- 
master, the lad was removed to the house of the village 
doctor a gentleman whose early career had not been un- 
like that of our hero, where he was to be seen, sometimes 
watering a horse, at others watering medicines, blue, yel- 
low, and red, — then again he might be noticed, lolling 
under an apple-tree, with Ruddiman’s Latin Grammar 1 
in his hand, and a corner of Denman’s Midwifery stick- 
ing out of a pocket; for his instructor held it absurd to 
teach his pupil how to dispatch a patient regularly from 
this world before he knew how to bring him into it. 

This kind of life continued for a twelvemonth, when 
he suddenly appeared at meeting in a long coat (and well 
did it deserve the name !) of black homespun, with little 
bootees, bound with uncolored calfskin, for the want of 
red morocco. 

Soon after he was seen shaving with a dull razor. 
Three or four months had scarce elapsed before several 
elderly ladies were observed hastening towards the house 
of a poor woman in the village, while others were running 
to and fro in great apparent distress. One or two boys 
were mounted, bareback, on horses, and sent off at speed 
in various directions. Several indirect questions were put 

1 [Thomas Ruddiman, an Aberdeen scholar, published a Rudiments of 
the Latin Tongue and a Latin Grammar in Latin, both of which had great 
vogue in the eighteenth century.] 


THE PIONEERS 


65 


concerning the place where the physician was last seen; 
hut all would not do; and at length Elnathan was seen 
issuing from his door with a very grave air, preceded by 
a little white-headed boy, out of breath, trotting before 
him. The following day the youth appeared in the street, 
as the highway was called, and the neighborhood was 
much edified by the additional gravity of his air. The 
same week he bought a new razor: and the succeeding 
Sunday he entered the meeting-house with a red silk 
handkerchief in his hand, and with an extremely demure 
countenance. In the evening he called upon a young 
woman of his own class in life, for there were no others 
to be found, and, when he was left alone with the fair, 
he was called for the first time in his life Doctor Todd, 
by her prudent mother. The ice once broken in this 
manner, Elnathan was greeted from every mouth with his 
official appellation. 

Another year passed under the superintendence of the 
same master, during which the young physician had the 
credit of “riding with the old doctor,” although they 
were generally observed to travel different roads. At the 
end of that period, Dr. Todd attained his legal majority. 
He then took a jaunt to Boston to purchase medicines, 
and, as some intimated, to walk the hospital; we know 
not how the latter might have been, but if true, he soon 
walked through it — for he returned within a fortnight, 
bringing with him a suspicious-looking box that smelled 
powerfully of brimstone. 

The next Sunday he was married: and the following 
morning he entered a one-horse sleigh with his bride, 
having before him the box we have mentioned, with an- 
other filled with home-made household linen, a paper- 
covered trunk, with a red umbrella lashed to it, a pair of 
quite new saddle-bags, and a bandbox. The next intelli- 
gence that his friends received of the bride and bridegroom 
was that the latter was “settled in the new countries 
and well to do as a doctor, in Templeton, in York State ! ” 

If a Templar would smile at the qualifications of Mar- 
maduke to fill the judicial seat he occupied, we are certain 


66 


THE PIONEERS 


that a graduate of Leyden or Edinburgh would he ex- 
tremely amused with this true narration of the servitude 
of Elnathan in the temple of iEsculapius. But the same 
consolation was afforded to both the jurist and the leech; 
for Dr. Todd was quite as much on a level with his com- 
peers of the profession, in that country, as was Marma- 
duke with his brethren on the bench. 

Time and practice did wonders for the physician. He 
was naturally humane, but possessed of no small share of 
moral courage; or, in other words, he was chary of the 
lives of his patients, and never tried uncertain experiments 
on such members of society as were considered useful; 
but once or twice when a luckless vagrant had come un- 
der his care, he was a little addicted to trying the effects 
of every phial in his saddle-bags on the stranger’s consti- 
tution. Happily their number was small, and in most 
cases their natures innocent. By these means Elnathan 
had acquired a certain degree of knowledge in fevers and 
agues, and could talk with much judgment concerning 
intermittent^, remittents, tertians, quotidians, etc. In 
certain cutaneous disorders, very prevalent in new set- 
tlements, he was considered to be infallible; and there 
was no woman on the Patent but would as soon think of 
becoming a mother without a husband, as without the 
assistance of Dr. Todd. In short he was rearing, on this 
foundation of sand, a superstructure, cemented by prac- 
tice, though composed of somewhat brittle materials. He 
however occasionally renewed his elementary studies, and, 
with the observation of a shrewd mind, was comfortably 
applying his practice to his theory. 

In surgery, having the least experience, and it being 
a business that spoke directly to the senses, he was most 
apt to distrust his own powers: but he had applied oils 
to several burns, cut round the roots of sundry defective 
teeth, and sewed up the wounds of numberless wood- 
choppers, with considerable eclat, when an unfortunate 
jobber 1 suffered a fracture of his leg by the tree that he 
had been felling. It was on this occasion that our hero 
1 People who clear land by the acre or job, are thus called. 


THE PIONEERS 


67 


encountered the greatest trial his nerves and moral feeling 
had ever sustained. In the hour of need, however, he 
was not found wanting. Most of the amputations in the 
new settlements, and they were quite frequent, were per- 
formed by some one practitioner, who, possessing origi- 
nally a reputation, was enabled by this circumstance to 
acquire an experience that rendered him deserving of it ; 
and Elnathan had been present at one or two of these 
operations. But on the present occasion the man of prac- 
tice was not to be obtained, and the duty fell, as a matter 
of course, to the share of Mr. Todd. He went to work 
with a kind of blind desperation, observing, at the same 
time, all the externals of decent gravity and great skill. 
The sufferer’s name was Milligan, and it was to this event 
that Bichard alluded when he spoke of assisting the doctor 
at an amputation — by holding the leg! The limb was 
certainly cut off, and the patient survived the operation. 
It was, however, two years before poor Milligan ceased 
to complain that they had buried the leg in so narrow a 
box that it was straitened for room — he could feel the 
pain shooting up from the inhumed fragment into the 
living members. Marmaduke suggested that the fault 
might lie in the arteries and nerves: but Bichard, con- 
sidering the amputation as part of his own handiwork, 
strongly repelled the insinuation, at the same time declar- 
ing that he had often heard of men who could tell when 
it was about to rain, by the toes of amputated limbs. 
After two or three years, notwithstanding Milligan’s com- 
plaints gradually diminished, the leg was dug up and a 
larger box furnished, and from that hour no one had 
heard the sufferer utter another complaint on the subject. 
This gave the public great confidence in Dr. Todd, whose 
reputation was hourly increasing, and, luckily for his 
patients, his information also . 1 

Notwithstanding Dr. Todd’s practice, and his success 
with the leg, he was not a little appalled on entering the 

1 Dr. Elnathan Todd was never included in the medical faculty of 
Otsego County. The original of the sketch figured for a time about 
Oswego, and the western counties of the State. — S. F. C. 


68 


THE PIONEERS 


hall of the Mansion-house. It was glaring with the light 
of day; it looked so splendid and imposing, compared 
with the hastily built and scantily furnished apartments 
which he frequented in his ordinary practice, and con- 
tained so many well dressed persons and anxious faces, 
that his usually firm nerves were a good deal discomposed. 
He had heard, from the messenger who summoned him, 
that it was a gunshot wound, and had come from his 
own home wading through the snow, with his saddle-bags 
thrown over his arm, while separated arteries, penetrated 
lungs, and injured vitals, were whirling through his 
brain as if he were stalking over a field of battle, instead 
of Judge Temple’s peaceable inclosure. 

The first object that met his eye, as he moved into the 
room, was Elizabeth in her riding-habit, richly laced with 
gold cord, her fine form bending towards him, and her 
face expressing deep anxiety in every one of its beautiful 
features. The enormous bony knees of the physician 
struck each other with a noise that was audible; for in 
the absent state of his mind, he mistook her for a general 
officer, perforated with bullets, hastening from the field 
of battle to implore assistance. The delusion, however, 
was but momentary, and his eye glanced rapidly from the 
daughter to the earnest dignity of the father’s counte- 
nance; thence to the busy strut of Richard, who was 
cooling his impatience at the hunter’s indifference to his 
assistance, by pacing the hall and cracking his whip; 
from him to the Frenchman, who had stood for several 
minutes unheeded, with a chair for the lady; thence to 
Major Hartmann, who was very coolly lighting a pipe 
three feet long by a candle in one of the chandeliers; 
thence to Mr. Grant, who was turning over a manuscript 
with much earnestness at one of the lustres; thence to 
Remarkable, who stood, with her arms demurely folded 
before her, surveying with a look of admiration and envy 
the dress and beauty of the young lady ; and from her to 
Benjamin, who, with his feet standing wide apart and 
his arms akimbo, was balancing his square little body 
with the indifference of one who is accustomed to wounds 


THE PIONEERS 


69 


and bloodshed. All of these seemed to be unhurt, and 
the operator began to breathe more freely; but before he 
had time to take a second look, the Judge, advancing, 
shook him kindly by the hand and spoke. 

“ Thou art welcome, my good sir, quite welcome, indeed ; 
here is a youth whom I have unfortunately wounded in 
shooting a deer this evening, and who requires some of 
thy assistance.” 

“Shooting at a deer, ’Duke,” interrupted Richard — 
“shooting at a deer. Who do you think can prescribe, 
unless he knows the truth of the case? It is always so 
with some people; they think a doctor can be deceived 
with the same impunity as another man.” 

“Shooting at a deer, truly,” returned the Judge, smil- 
ing, “although it is by no means certain that I did not 
aid in destroying the buck; but the youth is injured by 
my hand, be that as it may; and it is thy skill that must 
cure him, and my pocket shall amply reward thee for it.” 

“Two ver’ good t’ings to depend on,” observed Monsieur 
Le Quoi, bowing politely, with a sweep of his head, to 
the Judge and the practitioner. 

“I thank you, Monsieur,” returned the Judge; “but 
we keep the young man in pain. Remarkable, thou wilt 
please to provide linen for lint and bandages.” 

This remark caused a cessation of the compliments, 
and induced the physician to turn an inquiring eye in the 
direction of his patient. During the dialogue the young 
hunter had thrown aside his overcoat, and now stood clad 
in a plain suit of the common, light-colored homespun of 
the country, that was evidently but recently made. His 
hand was on the lapels of his coat, in the attitude of re- 
moving the garment, when he suddenly suspended the 
movement, and looked towards the commiserating Eliza- 
beth, who was standing in an unchanged posture, too 
much absorbed with her anxious feelings to heed his ac- 
tions. A slight color appeared on the brow of the youth. 

“Possibly the sight of blood may alarm the lady; I 
will retire to another room while the wound is dressing.” 

“By no means,” said Dr. Todd, who, having discov- 


70 


THE PIONEERS 


ered that his patient was far from being a man of impor- 
tance, felt much emboldened to perform the duty. “The 
strong light of these candles is favorable to the operation, 
and it is seldom that we hard students enjoy good eye- 
sight. ” 

While speaking, Elnathan placed a pair of large iron- 
rimmed spectacles on his face, where they dropped, as it 
were by long practice, to the extremity of his slim pug 
nose; and if they were of no service as assistants to his 
eyes, neither were they any impediment to his vision; 
for his little gray organs were twinkling above them, like 
two stars emerging from the envious cover of a cloud. 
The action was unheeded by all but Remarkable, who 
observed to Benjamin, — 

“Dr. Todd is a comely man to look on, and disp’ut 
pretty. How well he seems in spectacles! I declare, 
they give a grand look to a body’s face. I have quite 
a great mind to try them myself.” 

The speech of the stranger recalled the recollection of 
Miss Temple, who started, as if from deep abstraction, 
and coloring excessively, she motioned to a young woman 
who served in the capacity of maid, and retired with an 
air of womanly reserve. 

The field was now left to the physician and his patient, 
while the different personages who remained gathered 
around the latter, with faces expressing the various degrees 
of interest that each one felt in his condition. Major 
Hartmann alone retained his seat, where he continued to 
throw out vast quantities of smoke, now rolling his eyes 
up to the ceiling, as if musing on the uncertainty of life, 
and now bending them on the wounded man, with an ex- 
pression that bespoke some consciousness of his situation. 

In the meantime Elnathan, to whom the sight of a 
gunshot wound was a perfect novelty, commenced his 
preparations with a solemnity and care that were worthy of 
the occasion. An old shirt was procured by Benjamin, and 
placed in the hands of the other, who tore divers bandages 
from it, with an exactitude that marked both his own skill 
and the importance of the operation. 


THE PIONEERS 


71 


When this preparatory measure was taken, Dr. Todd se- 
lected a piece of the shirt with great care, and handing it 
to Mr. Jones, without moving a muscle, said: — 

“Here, Squire Jones, you are well acquainted with these 
things ; will you please to scrape the lint 1 It should be 
fine and soft, you know, my dear sir; and he cautious that 
no cotton gets in, or it may p’ison the wound. The shirt 
has been made with cotton thread, but you can easily 
pick it out.” 

Richard assumed the office, with a nod at his cousin, 
that said quite plainly, “You see this fellow can’t get 
along without me ; ” and began to scrape the linen on his 
knee with great diligence. 

A table was now spread with phials, boxes of salve, 
and divers surgical instruments. As the latter appeared 
in succession, from a case of red morocco, their owner 
held up each implement to the strong light of the chan- 
delier, near to which he stood, and examined it with the 
nicest care. A red silk handkerchief was frequently ap- 
plied to the glittering steel, as if to remove from the pol- 
ished surfaces the least impediment which might exist to 
the most delicate operation. After the rather scantily 
furnished pocket-case which contained these instruments 
was exhausted, the physician turned to his saddle-bags, 
and produced various phials, filled with liquids of the 
most radiant colors. These were arranged in due order, 
by the. side of the murderous saws, knives, and scissors, 
when Elnathan stretched his long body to its utmost ele- 
vation, placing his hand on the small of his back as if 
for support, and looked about him to discover what effect 
this display of professional skill was likely to produce on 
the spectators. 

“Upon my wort, toctor,” observed Major Hartmann, 
with a roguish roll of his little black eyes, but with every 
other feature of his face in a state of perfect rest, “put 
you have a very pretty pocket-pook of tools t’ere, and your 
toctor-stuff glitters as if it was petter for ter eyes as for 
ter pelly.” 

Elnathan gave a hem — one that might have been 


72 


THE PIONEERS 


equally taken for that kind of noise which cowards are 
said to make in order to awaken their dormant courage, 
or for a natural effort to clear the throat; if for the latter, 
it was successful; for turning his face to the veteran 
German, he said : — 

“Very true, Major Hartmann, very true, sir; a pru- 
dent man will always strive to make his remedies agreeable 
to the eyes, though they may not altogether suit the 
stomach. It is no small part of our art, sir,” and he 
now spoke with the confidence of a man who understood 
his subject, “to reconcile the patient to what is for his 
own good, though at the same time it may he unpalat- 
able.” 

“Sartain! Dr. Todd is right,” said Remarkable, “and 
has Scripter for what he says. The Bible tells us how 
things may he sweet to the mouth, and bitter to the 
inwards. ” 

“True, true,” interrupted the Judge, a little impa- 
tiently ; “ but here is a youth who needs no deception to 
lure him to his own benefit. I see by his eye that he 
fears nothing more than delay.” 

The stranger had, without assistance, bared his own 
shoulder, when the slight perforation produced by the 
passage of the buckshot was plainly visible. The intense 
cold of the evening had stopped the bleeding, and Dr. 
Todd, casting a furtive glance at the wound, thought it 
by no means so formidable an affair as he had anticipated. 
Thus encouraged he approached his patient, and made 
some indication of an intention to trace the route that 
had been taken by the lead. 

Remarkable often found occasions, in after days, to 
recount the minutiae of that celebrated operation; and 
when she arrived at this point she commonly proceeded 
as follows: “and then the doctor tuck out of the pocket- 
book a long thing, like a knitting-needle, with a button 
fastened to the end on’t; and then he pushed it into the 
wownd; and then the young man looked awful; and then 
I thought I should have swaned away — I felt in sitch 
a disp’ut taking; and then the doctor had run it right 


THE PIONEERS 


73 


through his shoulder, and shoved the bullet out on t’ other 
side; and so Dr. Todd cured the young man of a ball 
that the Judge had shot into him, for all the world as 
easy as I could pick out a splinter with 'my darning- 
needle. ” 

Such were the impressions of Remarkable on the sub- 
ject; and such doubtless were the opinions of most of 
those who felt it necessary to entertain a species of reli- 
gious veneration for the skill of Elnathan; but such was 
far from the truth. 

When the physician attempted to introduce the instru- 
ment described by Remarkable, he was repulsed by the 
stranger, with a good deal of decision, and some little 
contempt, in his manner. 

“I believe, sir,” he said, “that a probe is not neces- 
sary; the shot has missed the bone, and has passed di- 
rectly through the arm to the opposite side, where it 
remains but skin-deep, and whence, I should think, it 
might be easily extracted.” 

“The gentleman knows best,” said Dr. Todd, laying 
down the probe with the air of a man who had assumed 
it merely in compliance with forms; and turning to Rich- 
ard, he fingered the lint with the appearance of great care 
and foresight. “Admirably well scraped, Squire Jones! 
it is about the best lint I have ever seen. I want your 
assistance, my good sir, to hold the patient’s arm while 
I make an incision for the ball. Now, I rather guess 
there is not another gentleman present who could scrape 
the lint so well as Squire Jones.” 

“Such things run in families,” observed Richard, rising 
with alacrity to render the desired assistance. “My fa- 
ther, and my grandfather before him, were both celebrated 
for their knowledge of surgery; they were not, like Mar- 
maduke here, puffed up with an accidental thing, such 
as the time when he drew in the hip- joint of the man 
who was thrown from his horse: that was the fall before 
you came into the settlement, Doctor; but they were men 
who were taught the thing regularly, spending half their 
lives in learning those little niceties; though for the 


74 


THE PIONEERS 


matter of that, my grandfather was a college-bred physi- 
cian, and the best in the colony, too — that is, in his 
neighborhood. ” 

“So it goes with the world, Squire,” cried Benjamin, 
“if-so-be that a man wants to walk the quarter-deck with 
credit, d’ ye see, and with regular built swabs 1 on his 
shoulders, he mustn’t think to do it by getting in at 
the cabin windows. There are two ways to get into a 
top, besides the lubber-holes. The true way to walk aft 
is to begin forrard; tho’ ’f it be only in a humble way, 
like myself, d’ ye see, which was from being only a hander 
of topgallant-sails, and a stower of the flying- jib, to keep- 
ing the key of the captain’s locker.” 

“Benjamin speaks quite to the purpose,” continued 
Bichard. “I dare say that he has often seen shot ex- 
tracted, in the different ships in which he has served; 
suppose we get him to hold the basin; he must be used 
to the sight of blood.” 

“That he is, Squire, that he is,” interrupted the ci- 
devant steward; “many’s the good shot, round, double- 
headed, and grape, that I ’ve seen the doctors at work on. 
Bor the matter of that, I was in a boat, alongside the 
ship, when they cut out the twelve-pound shot from the 
thigh of the captain of the Boody-rong, one of Mounsheer 
Ler Quaw’s countrymen! ” 2 

“ A twelve - pound ball from the thigh of a human 
being ? ” exclaimed Mr. Grant, with great simplicity, drop- 
ping the sermon he was again reading, and raising his 
spectacles to the top of his forehead. 

“A twelve-pounder! ” echoed Benjamin, staring around 
him with much confidence; “a twelve-pounder! aye! a 
twenty-four pound shot can easily he taken from a man’s 
body, if-so-be a doctor only knows how. There ’s Squire 
Jones, now — ask him, sir; he reads all the hooks; ask 
him if he never fell in with a page that keeps the reckon- 
ing of such things.” 

1 Colloquial for the epaulets of a naval officer. 

2 It is possible that the reader may start at this declaration of Benjamin, 
but those who have lived in the new settlements of America are too much 
accustomed to hear of these European exploits to doubt it. 


THE PIONEERS 


75 


“Certainly, more important operations than that have 
been performed/’ observed Richard; “the Encyclopaedia 
mentions much more incredible circumstances than that, 
as I dare say you know, Doctor Todd.” 

“Certainly, there are incredible tales told in the Ency- 
clopaedias,” returned Elnathan, “though I cannot say that 
I have ever seen, myself, anything larger than a musket- 
bullet extracted.” 

During this discourse an incision had been made through 
the skin of the young hunter’s shoulder, and the lead was 
laid bare. Elnathan took a pair of glittering forceps, 
and was in the act of applying them to the wound, when 
a sudden motion of the patient caused the shot to fall 
out of itself. The long arm and broad hand of the oper- 
ator were now of singular service; for the latter expanded 
itself, and caught the lead, while at the same time an 
extremely ambiguous motion was made by its brother, so 
as to leave it doubtful to the spectators how great was its 
agency in releasing the shot. Richard, however, put the 
matter at rest by exclaiming : — 

“ Very neatly done, Doctor ! I have never seen a shot 
more neatly extracted; and I dare say Benjamin will say 
the same.” 

“Why, considering,” returned Benjamin, “I must say, 
that it was ship-shape, and Brister-fashion . 1 Now all 
that the doctor has to do is to clap a couple of plugs in 
the holes, and the lad will float in any gale that blows 
in these here hills.” 

“I thank you, sir, for what you have done,” said the 
youth, with a little distance; “but here is a man who 
will take me under his care, and spare you all, gentlemen, 
any further trouble on my account.” 

The whole group turned their heads in surprise, and 
beheld, standing at one of the distant doors of the hall, 
the person of Indian John . 2 

1 [For Bristol-fashion, i. e. in seamanlike trim — in good order. Bris- 
tol, England, famous for its maritime trade and manufactures, gave birth 
to the phrase.] 

2 The account given of the Delawares and Mohegans in this chapter is 


76 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER VII. 

From Susquehanna’s utmost springs, 

Where savage tribes pursue their game, 

His blanket tied with yellow strings, 

The shepherd of the forest came. 

Philip Freneau: The Indian Student; or, Force of Nature- 


Before the Europeans, or, to use a more significant 
term, the Christians, dispossessed the original owners of 
the soil, all that section of country which contains the 
New England States and those of the Middle which lie 
east of the mountains was occupied by two great nations 
of Indians, from whom had descended numberless tribes. 
But, as the original distinctions between these nations 
were marked by a difference in language, as well as by 
repeated and bloody wars, they never were known to 
amalgamate, until after the power and inroads of the 
whites had reduced some of the tribes to a state of de- 
pendence that rendered not only their political, but, con- 
sidering the wants and habits of a savage, their animal 
existence also, extremely precarious. 

These two great divisions consisted, on the one side, 
of the Five, or as they were afterwards called, the Six 
Nations, and their allies; and on the other, of the Lenni 
Lenape, or Delawares, with the numerous and powerful 
tribes that owned that nation as their grandfather. The 
former were generally called by the Anglo - Americans 
Iroquois, or the Six Nations, and sometimes Mingos. 
Their appellation, among their rivals, seems generally to 
have been the Mengwe, or Maqua. They consisted of 
the tribes, or, as their allies were fond of asserting, in 
order to raise their consequence, of the several nations 
of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, Cayugas, 

essentially based on good historical authority. There were early in this 
century wandering Mohegans coming to Lake Otsego, and to be met with 
on ground farther west, much in the condition ascribed to Chingachgook 
in his old age. It is believed that this name was a real one. The Lenni 
Lenape tribes gave to General Wayne the name of Sugach-Gook, or Black 
Serpent. — S. F. C. 


THE PIONEERS 


77 


and Senecas; who ranked, in the confederation, in the 
order in which they are named. The Tuscaroras were 
admitted to this union, near a century after its formation, 
and thus completed the number to six. 

Of the Lenni Lenape, or as they were called by the 
whites, from the circumstance of their holding their great 
council fire on the banks of that river, the Delaware 
nation, the principal tribes, besides that which bore the 
generic name, were the Mahicanni, Mohicans or Mohe- 
gans, and the Nanticokes or Nentigoes. Of these, the 
latter held the country along the waters of the Chesapeake 
and the seashore; while the Mohegans occupied the dis- 
trict between the Hudson and the ocean, including much of 
New England. Of course, these two tribes were the first 
who were dispossessed of their lands by the Europeans. 

The wars of a portion of the latter are celebrated among 
us as the wars of King Philip; but the peaceful policy 
of William Penn, or Miquon, as he was termed by the 
natives, effected its object with less difficulty, though not 
with less certainty. As the natives gradually disappeared 
from the country of the Mohegans, some scattering fami- 
lies sought a refuge around the council fire of the mother 
tribe, or the Delawares. 

This people .had been induced to suffer themselves to 
be called women , by their old enemies, the Mingos or 
Iroquois, after the latter, having in vain tried the effects 
of hostility, had recourse to artifice in order to prevail 
over their rivals. According to this declaration, the Del- 
awares were to cultivate the arts of peace, and to intrust 
their defense entirely to the 7nen , or warlike tribes of the 
Six Nations. 

This state of things continued until the war of the 
Devolution, when the Lenni Lenape formally asserted 
their independence, and fearlessly declared that they were 
again men. But in a government so peculiarly republican 
as the Indian polity, it was not at all times an easy task 
to restrain its members within the rules of the nation. 
Several fierce and renowned warriors of the Mohegans, 
finding the conflict with the whites to be in vain, sought 


78 


THE PIONEERS 


a refuge with their grandfather, and brought with them 
the feelings and principles that had so long distinguished 
them in their own tribe. These chieftains kept alive, in 
some measure, the martial spirit of the Delawares; and 
would, at times, lead small parties against their ancient 
enemies or such other foes as incurred their resentment. 

Among these warriors was one race particularly famous 
for their prowess, and for those qualities that render an 
Indian hero celebrated. But war, time, disease, and want 
had conspired to thin their number; and the sole repre- 
sentative of this once renowned family now stood in the 
hall of Marmaduke Temple. He had for a long time been 
an associate of the white men, particularly in their wars; 
and having been, at a season when his services were of 
importance, much noticed and flattered, he had turned 
Christian, and was baptized by the name of John. He 
had suffered severely in his family during the recent war, 
having had every soul to whom he was allied cut off 
by an inroad of the enemy ; and when the last lingering 
remnant of his nation extinguished their fires, among the 
hills of the Delaware, he alone had remained, with a de- 
termination of laying his bones in that country where his 
fathers had so long lived and governed. 

It was only, however, within a few months, that he had 
appeared among the mountains that surrounded Temple- 
ton. To the hut of the old hunter he seemed peculiarly 
welcome ; and, as the habits of the “ Leather-Stocking ” 
were so nearly assimilated to those of the savages, the con- 
junction of their interests excited no surprise. They re- 
sided in the same cabin, ate of the same food, and were 
chiefly occupied in the same pursuits. 

We have already mentioned the baptismal name of this 
ancient chief; but in his conversation with Natty, held 
in the language of the Delawares, he was heard uniformly 
to call himself Chingachgook — which, interpreted, means 
the “Great Snake.” This name he had acquired in 
youth, by his skill and prowess in war; but when his 
brows began to wrinkle with time, and he stood alone, 
the last of his family, and his particular tribe, the few 


THE PIONEERS 


79 


Delawares who yet continued about the head - waters of 
their river gave him the mournful appellation of Mohe- 
gan. Perhaps there was something of deep feeling ex- 
cited in the bosom of this inhabitant of the forest by the 
sound of a name that recalled the idea of his nation in 
ruins, for he seldom used it himself — never indeed, ex- 
cepting on the most solemn occasions; but the settlers 
had united, according to the Christian custom, his bap- 
tismal with his national name, and to them he was gen- 
erally known as John Mohegan, or, more familiarly, as 
Indian John. 

From his long association with the white men, the 
habits of Mohegan were a mixture of the civilized and 
savage states, though there was certainly a strong pre- 
ponderance in favor of the latter. In common with all 
his people who dwelt within the influence of the Anglo- 
Americans, he had acquired new wants, and his dress was 
a mixture of his native and European fashions. Notwith- 
standing the intense cold without, his head was uncov- 
ered; but a profusion of long, black, coarse hair concealed 
his forehead, his crown, and even hung about his cheeks, 
so as to convey the idea, to one who knew his present 
and former conditions, that he encouraged its abundance 
as a willing veil to hide the shame of a noble soul — 
mourning for glory once known. His forehead, when it 
could be seen, appeared lofty, broad, and noble. His 
nose was high, and of the kind called Roman, with nos- 
trils that expanded, in his seventieth year, with the free- 
dom that had distinguished them in youth. His mouth 
was large, hut compressed, and possessing a great share 
of expression and character; and, when open, it discov- 
ered a perfect set of short, strong, and regular teeth. 
His chin was full, though not prominent; and his face 
bore the infallible mark of his people, in its square, high 
cheek-bones. The eyes were not large, but their black 
orbs glittered in the rays of the candles, as he gazed in- 
tently down the hall, like two balls of fire. 

The instant that Mohegan observed himself to be no- 
ticed by the group around the young stranger, he dropped 


80 


THE PIONEERS 


the blanket, which covered the upper part of his frame, 
from his shoulders, suffering it to fall over his leggings 
of untanned deerskin, where it was retained by a belt of 
hark that confined it to his waist. 

As he walked slowly down the long hall, the dignified 
and deliberate tread of the Indian surprised the specta- 
tors. His shoulders, and body to his w r aist, were entirely 
hare, with the exception of a silver medallion of Wash- 
ington, that was suspended from his neck by a thong 
of buckskin, and rested on his high chest amidst many 
scars. His shoulders were rather broad and full ; but the 
arms, though straight and graceful, wanted the muscular 
appearance that labor gives to a race of men. The me- 
dallion was the only ornament he wore, although enor- 
mous slits in the rim of either ear, which suffered the 
cartilages to fall two inches below the members, had 
evidently been used for the purposes of decoration in 
other days. In his hand he held a small basket of the 
ash-wood slips, colored in divers fantastical conceits, with 
red and black paints mingled with the white of the wood. 

As this child of the forest approached them, the whole 
party stood aside, and allowed him to confront the object 
of his visit. He did not speak, however, hut stood fix- 
ing his glowing eyes on the shoulder of the young hunter, 
and then turning them intently on the countenance of the 
Judge. The latter was a good deal astonished at this 
Unusual departure from the ordinarily subdued and quiet 
manner of the Indian; hut he extended his hand, and 
said : — 

“Thou art welcome, John. This youth entertains a 
high opinion of thy skill, it seems, for he prefers thee to 
dress his wound even to our good friend, Dr. Todd.” 

Mohegan now spoke, in tolerable English, but in a low, 
monotonous, guttural tone : — 

“The children of Miquon do not love the sight of 
blood, and yet the Young Eagle has been struck by the 
hand that should do no evil ! ” 

“Mohegan! old John!” exclaimed the Judge, “think- 
est thou that my hand has ever drawn human blood will- 


THE PIONEERS 


81 


ingly? For shame! for shame, old John! thy religion 
should have taught thee better.’’ 

“The evil spirit sometimes lives in the best heart,” 
returned John, “but my brother speaks the truth; his 
hand has never taken life, when awake; no! not even 
when the children of the great English Father were mak- 
ing the waters red with the blood of his people.” 

“Surely, John,” said Mr. Grant, with much earnest- 
ness, “you remember the divine command of our Saviour, 
‘ Judge not, lest ye he judged. ’ What motive could 
Judge Temple have for injuring a youth like this; one 
to whom he is unknown, and from whom he can receive 
neither injury nor favor! ” 

John listened respectfully to the divine, and when he had 
concluded, he stretched out his arm and said with energy : 

“He is innocent; my brother has not done this.” 

Marmaduke received the offered hand of the other with 
a smile, that showed, however he might he astonished at 
his suspicion, he had ceased to resent it ; while the 
wounded youth stood, gazing from his red friend to his 
host, with interest powerfully delineated in his counte- 
nance. No sooner was this act of pacification exchanged, 
than John proceeded to discharge the duty on which he 
had come. Dr. Todd was far from manifesting any dis- 
pleasure at this invasion of his rights, but made way for 
the new leech, with an air that expressed a willingness 
to gratify the humors of his patient now that the all- 
important part of the business was so successfully per- 
formed, and nothing remained to he done hut what any 
child might effect. Indeed, he whispered as much to 
Monsieur Le Quoi, when he said : — 

“It was fortunate that the hall was extracted before 
this Indian came in; but any old woman can dress the 
wound. The young man, I hear, lives with John and 
Natty Bumppo, and it ’s always best to humor a patient, 
when it can be done discreetly — I say, discreetly, Mon- 
sieur. ” 

“ Certainement, ” returned the Frenchman; “you seem 
ver’ happy, Mister Todd, in your pratique. I tink the 


82 


THE PIONEERS 


elder lady might ver’ well finish vat you so skeelfully 
begin.” 

But Richard had, at the bottom, a great deal of venera- 
tion for the knowledge of Mohegan, especially in external 
wounds; and retaining all his desire for a participation in 
glory, he advanced nigh the Indian, and said : — 

“Sago, sago, Mohegan! sago, my good fellow! I am 
glad you have come; give me a regular physician, like 
Dr. Todd, to cut into flesh, and a native to heal the 
wound. Do you remember, John, the time when I and 
you set the bone of Natty Bumppo’s little finger, after 
he broke it by falling from the rock, when he was trying 
to get the partridge that fell on the cliffs ? I never could 
tell yet, whether it was I or Natty who killed that bird : 
he fired first, and the bird stooped, and then it was rising 
again as I pulled trigger. I should have claimed it, for 
a certainty, hut Natty said the hole was too big for shot, 
and he fired a single hall from his rifle; hut the piece I 
carried then did n’t scatter, and I have known it to bore 
a hole through a board, when I ’ve been shooting at a 
mark, very much like rifle bullets. Shall I help you, 
John? You know I have a knack at these things.” 

Mohegan heard this disquisition quite patiently, and 
when Richard concluded, he held out the basket which 
contained his specifics, indicating, by a gesture, that he 
might hold it. Mr. Jones was quite satisfied with this 
commission; and, ever after, in speaking of the event, 
was used to say, that “Doctor Todd and I cut out the 
bullet, and I and Indian John dressed the wound.” 

The patient was much more deserving of that epithet, 
while under the hands of Mohegan, than while suffering 
under the practice of the physician. Indeed, the Indian 
gave him hut little opportunity for the exercise of a for- 
bearing temper, as he had come prepared for the occasion. 
His dressings were soon applied, and consisted only of 
some pounded bark, moistened with a fluid that he had 
expressed from some of the simples of the woods. 

Among the native tribes of the forest, there were al- 
ways two kinds of leeches to be met with. The one 


THE PIONEERS 


83 


placed its whole dependence on the exercise of a super- 
natural power, and was held in greater veneration than 
their practice could at all justify ; but the other was really 
endowed with great skill in the ordinary complaints of 
the human body, and was more particularly, as Natty had 
intimated, “cur’ous in cuts and bruises.” 

While John and Richard were placing the dressings on 
the wound, Elnathan was acutely eying the contents of 
Mohegan’s basket, which Mr. Jones in his physical ardor 
had transferred to the doctor, in order to hold, himself, 
one end of the bandages. Here he was soon enabled to 
detect sundry fragments of wood and bark, of which he 
quite coolly took possession, very possibly without any 
intention of speaking at all upon the subject; but when 
he beheld the full blue eye of Marmaduke watching his 
movements, he whispered to the Judge: — 

“It is not to be denied, Judge Temple, but what the 
savages are knowing in small matters of physic. They 
hand these things down in their traditions. Now in 
cancers and hydrophoby they are quite ingenious. I will 
just take this bark home and analyze it; for, though it 
can’t be worth sixpence to the young man’s shoulder, it 
may be good for the toothache, or rheumatism, or some 
of them complaints. A man should never be above learn- 
ing, even if it be from an Indian.” 

It was fortunate for Dr. Todd that his principles were 
so liberal, as, coupled with his practice, they were the 
means by which he acquired all his knowledge, and by 
which he was gradually qualifying himself for the duties 
of his profession. The process to which he subjected 
the specific, differed, however, greatly from the ordinary 
rules of chemistry; for, instead of separating, he after- 
wards united the component parts of Mohegan’s remedy, 
and thus was able to discover the tree whence the Indian 
had taken it. 

Some ten years after this event, when civilization and 
its refinements had crept, or rather rushed, into the set- 
tlements among these wild hills, an affair of honor oc- 
curred, and Elnathan was seen to apply a salve to the 


84 


THE PIONEERS 


wound received by one of the parties, which had the 
flavor that was peculiar to the tree or root that Mohegan 
had used. Ten years later still, when England and the 
United States were again engaged in war, and the hordes 
of the western parts of the State of New York were rush- 
ing to the field, Elnathan, presuming on the reputation 
obtained by these two operations, followed in the rear of 
a brigade of militia as its surgeon ! 

When Mohegan had applied the bark, he freely relin- 
quished to Richard the needle and thread that were used 
in sewing the bandages, for these were implements of 
which the native but little understood the use; and, step- 
ping back, with decent gravity, awaited the completion of 
the business by the other. 

“Reach me the scissors, ” said Mr. Jones, when he had 
finished, and finished for the second time, after tying the 
linen in every shape and form that it could be placed; 
“reach me the scissors, for here is a thread that must be 
cut off, or it might get under the dressings, and inflame 
the wound. See, John, I have put the lint I scraped be- 
tween two layers of the linen; for though the bark is 
certainly best for the flesh, yet the lint will serve to keep 
the cold air from the wound. If any lint will do it good, 
it is this lint; I scraped it myself, and J will not turn 
my back at scraping lint to any man on the Patent. I 
ought to know how, if anybody ought, for my grandfather 
was a doctor, and my father had a natural turn that way.” 

“Here, Squire, is the scissors,” said Remarkable, pro- 
ducing from beneath her petticoat of green moreen a pair 
of dull-looking shears; “well, upon my say-so, you have 
sewed on the rags as well as a woman.” 

“ As well as a woman ! ” echoed Richard, with indigna- 
tion, “what do women know of such matters? and you 
are proof of the truth of what I say. Who ever saw 
such a pair of shears used about a wound? Dr. Todd, I 
will thank you for the scissors from the case. Now, 
young man, I think you ’ll do. The shot has been very 
neatly taken out, although perhaps, seeing I had a hand 
in it, I ought not to say so; and the wound is admirably 


THE PIONEERS 


85 


dressed. You will soon be well again; though the jerk 
you gave my leaders must have a tendency to inflame the 
shoulder, yet you will do, you will do. You were rather 
flurried, I suppose, and not used to horses; but I forgive 
the accident for the motive: no doubt you had the best 
of motives; yes, now you will do.” 

“Then, gentlemen,” said the wounded stranger, rising, 
and resuming his clothes, “it will be unnecessary for me 
to trespass longer on your time and patience. There 
remains but one thing more to be settled, and that is our 
respective rights to the deer, Judge Temple.” 

“I acknowledge it to be thine,” said Marmaduke; “and 
much more deeply am I indebted to thee than for this 
piece of venison. But in the morning thou wilt call 
here, and we can adjust this, as well as more important 
matters. Elizabeth,” — for the young lady, being ap- 
prised that the wound was dressed, had reentered the 
hall, — “thou wilt order a repast for this youth before we 
proceed to the church; and Aggy will have a sleigh pre- 
pared, to convey him to his friend.” 

“But, sir, I cannot go without a part of the deer,” 
returned the youth, seemingly struggling with his own 
feelings; “I have already told you that I needed the 
venison for myself.” 

“Oh, we will not be particular,” exclaimed Bichard; 
“the Judge will pay you in the morning for the whole 
deer, and Bemarkable, give the lad all the animal except- 
ing the saddle; so, on the whole, I think you may con- 
sider yourself as a very lucky young man: you have been 
shot without being disabled; have had the wound dressed 
in the best possible manner here in the woods, as well as 
it would have been done in the Philadelphia hospital, if 
not better; have sold your deer at a high price, and yet 
can keep most of the carcass, with the skin in the bar- 
gain. ’Marky, tell Tom to give him the skin, too; and 
in the morning bring the skin to me, and I will give you 
half a dollar for it, or at least three and sixpence. I 
want just such a skin to cover the pillion that I am mak- 
ing for cousin Bess.” 


86 


THE PIONEERS 


“ I thank you, sir, for your liberality, and I trust am 
also thankful for my escape,” returned the stranger; “hut 
you reserve the very part of the animal that I wished for 
my own use. I must have the saddle myself.” 

“ Must ! ” echoed Richard ; “ must is harder to he swal- 
lowed than the horns of the buck.” 

“Yes, must,” repeated the youth: when, turning his 
head proudly around him, as if to see who would dare to 
controvert his rights, he met the astonished gaze of Eliza- 
beth, and proceeded more mildly, “that is, if a man is 
allowed the possession of that which his hand hath killed, 
and the law will protect him in the enjoyment of his 
own. ” 

“The law will do so,” said Judge Temple, with an air 
of mortification mingled with surprise. Benjamin, see 
that the whole deer is placed in the sleigh; and have this 
youth conveyed to the hut of Leather- Stocking. But, 
young man, thou hast a name, and I shall see thee again, 
in order to compensate thee for the wrong I have done 
thee 1 ” 

“I am called Edwards,” returned the hunter; “Oliver 
Edwards. I am easily to be seen, sir, for I live nigh by, 
and am not afraid to show my face, having never injured 
any man.” 

“It is we who have injured you, sir,” said Elizabeth; 
“and the knowledge that you decline our assistance would 
give my father great pain. He would gladly see you in 
the morning.” 

The young hunter gazed at the fair speaker until his 
earnest look brought the blood to her temples; when, 
recollecting himself, he bent his head, dropping his eyes 
to the carpet, and replied : — 

“In the morning, then, will I return, and see Judge 
Temple; and I will accept his offer of the sleigh in token 
of amity.” 

“ Amity ! ” repeated Marmaduke ; “ there was no malice 
in the act that injured thee, young man; there should be 
none in the feelings which it may engender. ” 

“Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who tres- 


THE PIONEERS 


87 


pass against us,” observed Mr. Grant, “is the language 
used by our Divine Master himself, and it should be the 
golden rule of us, his humble followers.” 

The stranger stood a moment, lost in thought, and then 
glancing his dark eyes rather wildly around the hall, he 
bowed low to the divine, and moved from the apartment, 
with an air that would not admit of detention. 

“’Tis strange that one so young should harbor such 
feelings of resentment,” said Marmaduke, when the door 
closed behind the stranger ; “ but while the pain is recent, 
and the sense of the injury so fresh, he must feel more 
strongly than in cooler moments. I doubt not we shall 
see him in the morning more tractable.” 

Elizabeth, to whom this speech was addressed, did not 
reply, but moved slowly up the hall, by herself, fixing 
her eyes on the little figure of the English ingrained car- 
pet that covered the floor; while, on the other hand, 
Richard gave a loud crack with his whip, as the stranger 
disappeared, and cried : — 

“Well, ’Duke, you are your own master, but I would 
have tried law for the saddle, before I would have given 
it to the fellow. Do you not own the mountains as well 
as the valleys? are not the woods your own? what right 
has this chap, or the Leather-Stocking, to shoot in your 
woods, without your permission? Now, I have known 
a farmer in Pennsylvania order a sportsman off his farm 
with as little ceremony as I would order Benjamin to put 
a log in the stove. By the bye, Benjamin, see how the 
thermometer stands. Now, if a man has a right to do 
this on a farm of a hundred acres, what power must a 
landlord have who owns sixty thousand — aye, for the 
matter of that, including the late purchases, a hundred 
thousand? There is Mohegan, to be sure, he may have 
some right, being a native; but it’s little the poor fel- 
low can do now with his rifle. How is this managed in 
France, Monsieur Le Quoi? Do you let everybody run 
over your land in that country, helter-skelter, as they do 
here, shooting the game, so that a gentleman has but little 
or no cbance with his gun ? ” 


88 


THE PIONEERS 


“Bah! diable, no, Meester Deeck,” replied the French- 
man; “we give in France no liberty, except to the ladi.” 

“Yes, yes, to the women, I know,” said Bichard, 
“that is your Salic law. 1 I read, sir, all kinds of books 
— of France, as well as England ; of Greece, as well as 
Borne. But if I were in ’Duke’s place, I would stick 
up advertisements to-morrow morning, forbidding all per- 
sons to shoot, or trespass in any manner, on my woods. 
I could write such an advertisement myself, in an hour, 
as would put a stop to the thing at once.” 

“Bichart,” said Major Hartmann, very coolly knocking 
the ashes from his pipe into the spitting-box by his side, 
“now listen; I have livet seventy-five years on ter Mo- 
hawk, and in ter woots. You hat petter mettle as mit ter 
deyvel, as mit ter hunters. Tey live mit ter gun, and 
a rifle is petter as ter law.” 

“ Ain’t Marmaduke a judge 1 ” said Bichard indignantly. 
“Where is the use of being a judge, or having a judge, if 
there is no law 1 Damn the fellow ! I have a great mind 
to sue him in the morning myself, before Squire Doolittle, 
for meddling with my leaders. I am not afraid of his 
rifle. I can shoot too. I have hit a dollar many a time 
at fifty rods.” 

“•Thou hast missed more dollars than ever thou hast 
hit, Dickon,” exclaimed the cheerful voice of the judge. 
“But we will now take our evening’s repast, which, I 
perceive by Bemarkable’s physiognomy, is ready. Mon- 
sieur Le Quoi, Miss Temple has a hand at your service. 
Will you lead the way, my child 1 ” 

“Ah! ma chere Mam’selle, comme je suis enchante!” 
said the Frenchman. “II ne manque que les dames de 
faire un paradis de Templeton.” 

Mr. Grant and Mohegan continued in the hall, while 
the remainder of the party withdrew to an eating parlor, 
if we except Benjamin, who civilly remained, to close 

1 [Said to have been so called because it was formulated in the code of 
the Salian tribe of Franks, which excluded women from inheriting cer- 
tain lands. In the fourteenth century the law was interpreted as ex- 
cluding women from succession to the crown.] 


THE PIONEERS 


89 


the rear after the clergyman, and to open the front door 
for the exit of the Indian. 

“John,” said the divine, when the figure of Judge 
Temple disappeared, the last of the group, “ to-morrow is 
the festival of the nativity of our blessed Redeemer, when 
the Church has appointed prayers and thanksgivings to be 
offered up by her children, and when all are invited to 
partake of the mystical elements. As you have taken up 
the cross, and become a follower of good and an eschewer 
of evil, I trust I shall see you before the altar, with a 
contrite heart and a meek spirit.” 

“John will come,” said the Indian, betraying no sur- 
prise; though he did not understand all the terms used 
by the other. 

“Yes,” continued Mr. Grant, laying his hand gently 
on the tawny shoulder of the aged chief, “ but it is not 
enough to he there in the body; you must come in the 
spirit and in truth. The Redeemer died for all, for the 
poor Indian as well as for the white man. Heaven knows 
no difference in color; nor must earth witness a separa- 
tion of the Church. It is good and profitable, John, to 
freshen the understanding, and support the wavering, by 
the observance of our holy festivals; but all form is but 
stench in the nostrils of the Holy One, unless it he ac- 
companied by a devout and humble spirit. ” 

The Indian stepped hack a little, and, raising his body 
to its utmost powers of erection, he stretched his right 
arm on high, and dropped his forefinger downward, as if 
pointing from the heavens, then striking his other hand 
on his naked breast, he said, with energy : — 

“ The eye of the Great Spirit can see from the clouds ; 
the bosom of Mohegan is bare ! ” 

“It is well, John, and I hope you will receive profit 
and consolation from the performance of this duty. The 
Great Spirit overlooks none of his children; and the man 
of the woods is as much an object of his care as he who 
dwells in a palace. I wish you a good-night, and pray 
God to bless you.” 

The Indian bent his head, and they separated, the one 


90 


THE PIONEERS 


to seek his hut, and the other to join the party at the 
supper table. While Benjamin was opening the door for 
the passage of the chief, he cried, in a tone that was 
meant to be encouraging : — 

“The parson says the word that is true, John. If-so-be 
that they took count of the color of the skin in heaven, 
why, they might refuse to muster on their books a Chris- 
tian-born, like myself, just for the matter of a little tan, 
from cruising in warm latitudes; though, for the matter 
of that, this damned nor’ wester is enough to whiten the 
skin of a blackamore. Let the reef out of your blanket, 
man, or your red hide will hardly weather the night, 
without a touch from the frost. ” 


CHAPTER VIII 

For here the exile met from every clime, 

And spoke, in friendship, every distant tongue. 

Thomas Campbell : Gertrude of Wyoming , Part I. iv. 

We have made our readers acquainted with some 
variety in character and nations, in introducing the most 
important personages of this legend to their notice: hut, 
in order to establish the fidelity of our narrative, we shall 
briefly attempt to explain the reason why we have been 
obliged to present so motley a dramatis personae . 1 

i The number of Europeans who came to the new village has been 
already alluded to. Among other French Emigres the celebrated M. de 
Talleyrand came to look at this outpost of civilization. He was a guest 
of Judge Cooper for a short time. A French acrostic on the eldest 
daughter of his host, then about seventeen, has been ascribed to him by 
the traditions of the village. It may be given as a literary curiosity. 

ACROSTICHE. 

Amiable philosophe au printemps de son gge, 

Ni les temps, ni les lieux n’alterent son esprit ; 

Ne cedant qu’a ses gouts, simple et sans etalage 
Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, ecrit. 

Cultivez, belle Anna, votre gout pour l’etude ; 

On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps ; 

Otsego n’est pas gai — mais tout est habitude ; 

Paris vous deplairait fort au premier moment ; 

Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude, 

Rentrant au monde est sur d’en faire l’ornement. 


THE PIONEERS 


91 


Europe, at the period of our tale, was in the commence- 
ment of that commotion which afterwards shook her po- 
litical institutions to the centre. Louis the Sixteenth 
had been beheaded, and a nation once esteemed the most 
refined among the civilized people of the world was 
changing its character, and substituting cruelty for mercy, 
and subtlety and ferocity for magnanimity and courage. 
Thousands of Frenchmen were compelled to seek protec- 
tion in distant lands. Among the crowds who fled from 
France and her islands to the United States of America 
was the gentleman whom we have already mentioned as 
Monsieur Le Quoi. He had been recommended to the 
favor of Judge Temple by the head of an eminent mer- 
cantile house in New York, with whom Marmaduke was 
in habits of intimacy and accustomed to exchange good 
offices. At his first interview with the Frenchman, our 
Judge had discovered him to be a man of breeding, and 
one who had seen much more prosperous days in his own 
country. From certain hints that had escaped him, Mon- 
sieur Le Quoi was suspected of having been a West India 
planter, great numbers of whom had fled from St. Do- 
mingo and the other islands, and were now living in the 
Union, in a state of comparative poverty, and some in 
absolute want. The latter was not, however, tne lot of 
Monsieur Le Quoi. He had but little, he acknowledged; 
hut that little was enough to furnish, in the language of 
the country, an assortment for a store. 

The knowledge of Marmaduke was eminently practical, 
and there was no part of a settler's life with which he 
was not familiar. Under his direction, Monsieur Le Quoi 
made some purchases, consisting of a few cloths; some 
groceries, with a good deal of gunpowder and tobacco; a 
quantity of iron ware, among which was a large propor- 
tion of Barlow’s jackknives, potash-kettles, and spiders; 
a very formidable collection of crockery, of the coarsest 
quality and most uncouth forms; together with every 
other common article that the art of man has devised for 
his wants, not forgetting the luxuries of looking-glasses 
and jews’-harps. With this collection of valuables, Mon- 


92 


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sieur Le Quoi had stepped behind a counter, and, with 
a wonderful pliability of temperament, had dropped into 
his assumed character as gracefully as he had ever moved 
in any other. The gentleness and suavity of his manners 
rendered him extremely popular; besides this, the women 
soon discovered that he had a taste. His calicoes were 
the finest, or, in other words, the most showy, of any 
that were brought into the country ; and it was impossible 
to look at the prices asked for his goods by “so pretty a 
spoken man.” Through these conjoint means, the affairs 
of Monsieur Le Quoi were again in a prosperous condi- 
tion, and he was looked up to by the settlers as the sec- 
ond-best man on the “Patent.” 

The term “Patent,” which we have already used, and 
for which we may have further occasion, meant the dis- 
trict of country that had been originally granted to old 
Major Effingham by the “king’s letters patent,” and 
which had now become, by purchase under the act of 
confiscation, the property of Marmaduke Temple. It was 
a term in common use throughout the new parts of the 
State ; and was usually annexed to the landlord’s name, 
as “Temple’s or Effingham’s Patent.” 

Major Hartmann was the descendant of a man who, in 
company with a number of his countrymen, had emigrated 
with their families from the hanks of the Rhine to those 
of the Mohawk. This emigration had occurred as far back 
as the reign of Queen Anne ; and their descendants were 
now living in great peace and plenty on the fertile bor- 
ders of that beautiful stream. 

The Germans, or “High Dutchers,” as they were 
called, to distinguish them from the original or Low 
Hutch colonists, were a very peculiar people. They pos- 
sessed all the gravity of the latter, without any of their 
phlegm ; and, like them, the “ High Dutchers ” were in- 
dustrious, honest, and economical. 

Fritz, or Frederick, Hartmann was an epitome of all 
the vices and virtues, foibles and excellences, of his race. 
He was passionate though silent, obstinate, and a good 
deal suspicious of strangers; of immovable courage, in- 


THE PIONEERS 


93 


flexible honesty, and undeviating in his friendships. In- 
deed, there was no change about him, unless it were from 
grave to gay. He was serious by months, and jolly by 
weeks. He had, early in their acquaintance, formed an 
attachment for Marmaduke Temple, who was the only 
man that could not speak High Dutch that ever gained 
his entire confidence. Four times in each year, at periods 
equidistant, he left his low stone dwelling on the banks 
of the Mohawk, and traveled thirty miles through the 
hills to the door of the Mansion-house in Templeton. 
Here he generally stayed a week; and was reputed to 
spend much of that time in riotous living, greatly coun- 
tenanced by Mr. Richard Jones. But every one loved 
him, even to Remarkable Pettibone, to whom he occa- 
sioned some additional trouble; he was so frank, so sin- 
cere, and, at times, so mirthful. He was now on his reg- 
ular Christmas visit, and had not been in the village an 
hour when Richard summoned him to fill a seat in the 
sleigh, to meet the landlord and his daughter. 

Before explaining the character and situation of Mr. 
Grant, it will be necessary to recur to times far back in 
the brief history of the settlement. 

There seems to be a tendency in human nature to en- 
deavor to provide for the wants of this world, before our 
attention is turned to the business of the other. Reli- 
gion was a quality but little cultivated amid the stumps 
of Temple’s Patent for the first few years of its settle- 
ment; but, as most of its inhabitants were from the moral 
States of Connecticut and Massachusetts, when the wants 
of nature were satisfied they began seriously to turn their 
attention to the introduction of those customs and observ- 
ances which had been the principal care of their fore- 
fathers. There was certainly a great variety of opinions 
on the subject of grace and free-will among the tenantry 
of Marmaduke; and, when we take into consideration the 
variety of the religious instruction which they received, 
it can easily be seen that it could not well be otherwise. 

Soon after the village had been formally laid out into 
the streets and blocks that resembled a city, a meeting of 


94 


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its inhabitants had been convened, to take into consid- 
eration the propriety of establishing an academy. This 
measure originated with Eichard — who, in truth, was 
much disposed to have the institution designated a uni- 
versity, or at least a college. Meeting after meeting was 
held, for this purpose, year after year. The “resolu- 
tions ” of these assemblages appeared in the most conspicu- 
ous columns of a little blue-looking newspaper, that was 
already issued weekly from the garret of a dwelling-house 
in the village, and which the traveler might as often see 
stuck into the fissure of a stake — erected at the point 
where the footpath from the log-cabin of some settler 
entered the highway, as a post-office for an individual. 
Sometimes the stake supported a small box, and a whole 
neighborhood received a weekly supply for their literary 
wants, at this point, where the man who “rides post” 
regularly deposited a bundle of the precious commodity. 
To these flourishing resolutions, which briefly recounted 
the general utility of education, the political and geo- 
graphical rights of the village of Templeton to a partici- 
pation in the favors of the regents of the university, the 
salubrity of the air, and wholesomeness of the water, to- 
gether with the cheapness of food and the superior state 
of morals in the neighborhood, were uniformly annexed, 
in large Eoman capitals, the names of Marmaduke Temple 
as chairman, and Eichard Jones as secretary. 

Happily for the success of this undertaking, the regents 
were not accustomed to resist these appeals to their gen- 
erosity, whenever there was the smallest prospect of a 
donation to second the request. Eventually Judge Tem- 
ple concluded to bestow the necessary land, and to erect 
the required edifice at his own expense. The skill of 
Mr., or, as he was now called, from the circumstance of 
having received the commission of a justice of the peace, 
Squire Doolittle, was again put in requisition; and the 
science of Mr. Jones was once more resorted to. 

We shall not recount the different devices of the archi- 
tects on the occasion; nor would it be decorous so to do, 
seeing that there was a conyocation of the society of the 


THE PIONEERS 


95 


ancient and honorable fraternity “of the Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons,” at the head of whom was Kichard, in 
the capacity of master, doubtless to approve or reject such 
of the plans as, in their wisdom, they deemed to he for 
the best. The knotty point was, however, soon decided.; 
and, on the appointed day, the brotherhood marched in 
great state, displaying sundry banners and mysterious 
symbols, each man with a little mimic apron before him, 
from a most cunningly contrived apartment in the gar- 
ret of the “Bold Dragoon,” an inn kept by one Captain 
Hollister, to the site of the intended edifice. Here Bich- 
ard laid the corner-stone, with suitable gravity, amidst an 
assemblage of more than half the men, and all the women, 
within ten miles of Templeton. 

In the course of the succeeding week there was another 
meeting of the people, not omitting swarms of the gentler 
sex, when the abilities of Hiram at the “ square rule ” 
were put to the test of experiment. The frame fitted 
well; and the skeleton of the fabric was reared without 
a single accident, if we except a few falls from horses 
while the laborers were returning home in the evening. 
From this time the work advanced with great rapidity, 
and in the course of the season the labor was completed; 
the edifice standing, in all its beauty and proportions, the 
boast of the village, the study of young aspirants for ar- 
chitectural fame, and the admiration of every settler on 
the Patent. 

It was a long, narrow house of wood, painted white, 
and more than half windows; and when the observer 
stood at the western side of the building, the edifice 
offered but a small obstacle to a full view of the rising 
sun. It was, in truth, but a very comfortless open place, 
through which the daylight shone with natural facility. 
On its front were divers ornaments in wood, designed by 
Kichard, and executed by Hiram; but a window in the 
centre of the second story, immediately over the door or 
grand entrance, and the “steeple,” were the pride of the 
building. The former was, we believe, of the composite 
order; for it included in its composition a multitude of 


96 


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ornaments, and a great variety of proportions. It con- 
sisted of an arched compartment in the centre, with a 
square and small division on either side, the whole en- 
cased in heavy frames, deeply and laboriously moulded 
in pine- wood, and lighted with a vast number of blurred 
and green-looking glass, of those dimensions which are 
commonly called “eight by ten.” Blinds, that were in- 
tended to he painted green, kept the window in a state 
of preservation; and probably might have contributed to 
the effect of the whole, had not the failure in the public 
funds, which seems always to he incidental to any under- 
taking of this kind, left them in the sombre coat of lead 
color with which they had been originally clothed. The 
“ steeple ” was a little cupola, reared on the very centre 
of the roof, on four tall pillars of pine, that were fluted 
with a gouge, and loaded with mouldings. On the tops 
of the columns was reared a dome or cupola, resembling 
in shape an inverted teacup, without its bottom, from 
the centre of which projected a spire or shaft of wood, 
transfixed with two iron rods, that bore on their ends the 
letters N. S. E. and W. in the same metal. The whole 
was surmounted by an imitation of one of the finny tribe, 
carved in wood by the hands of Richard, and painted 
what he called a “scale-color.” This animal Mr. Jones 
affirmed to be an admirable resemblance of a great favorite 
of the epicures in that country, which bore the title of 
“ lake-fish ; ” and doubtless the assertion was true, for, 
although intended to answer the purposes of a weather- 
cock, the fish was observed invariably to look with a long- 
ing eye in the direction of the beautiful sheet of water 
that lay imbedded in the mountains of Templeton. 

For a short time after the charter of the regents was 
received, the trustees of this institution employed a gradu- 
ate of one of the eastern colleges, to instruct such youth 
as aspired to knowledge within the walls of the edifice 
which we have described. The upper part of the build- 
ing was in one apartment, and was intended for gala-days 
and exhibitions; and the lower contained two rooms, that 
were intended for the great divisions of education, namely, 


THE PIONEERS 


97 


the Latin and the English scholars. The former were 
never very numerous; though the sounds of “nominative, 
pennaa , genitive, penny ” were soon heard to issue from 
the windows of the room, to the great delight and mani- 
fest edification of the passenger. 

Only one laborer in this temple of Minerva, however, 
was known to get so far as to attempt a translation of 
Virgil. He, indeed, appeared at the annual exhibition, 
to the prodigious exultation of all his relatives, a farmer’s 
family in the vicinity, and repeated the whole of the first 
eclogue from memory, observing the intonations of the 
dialogue with much judgment and effect. The sounds, 
as they proceeded from his mouth, of — 

“ Titty-ree too patty-lee ree-coo-bans sub teg-mi-nee faa-gy 
Syl-ves-trem ten-oo-i moo-sam, med-i-taa-ris, aa-ve-ny ” — 

were the last that had been heard in that building, as 
probably they were the first that had ever been heard, in 
the same language, there or anywhere else. By this time 
the trustees discovered that they had anticipated the age, 
and the instructor, or principal, was superseded by a mas- 
ter who went on to teach the more humble lesson of 
“the more haste the worse speed,” in good plain English. 

From this time, until the date of our incidents, the 
academy was a common country school, and the great 
room of the building was sometimes used as a court-room, 
on extraordinary trials; sometimes for conferences of the 
religious and the morally disposed, in the evening; at 
others for a ball, in the afternoon, given under the au- 
spices of Bichard; and on Sundays invariably as a place 
of public worship. 

When an itinerant priest of the persuasion of the Meth- 
odists, Baptists, Universalists, or of the more numerous 
sect of the Presbyterians, was accidentally in the neigh- 
borhood, he was ordinarily invited to officiate, and was 
commonly rewarded for his services by a collection in a 
hat, before the congregation separated. When no such 
regular minister offered, a kind of colloquial prayer or two 
was made by some of the more gifted members, and a 


98 


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sermon was usually read, from Sterne , 1 by Mr. Richard 
Jones. 

The consequence of this desultory kind of priesthood 
was, as we have already intimated, a great diversity of 
opinion on the more abstruse points of faith. Each sect 
had its adherents, though neither was regularly organized 
and disciplined. Of the religious education of Marma- 
duke we have already written, nor was the doubtful char- 
acter of his faith completely removed by his marriage. 
The mother of Elizabeth was an Episcopalian, as, indeed, 
was the mother of the Judge himself; and the good taste 
of Marmaduke revolted at the familiar colloquies which 
the leaders of the conferences held with the Deity, in 
their nightly meetings. In form, he was certainly an 
Episcopalian, though not a secretary of that denomination. 
On the other hand, Richard was as rigid in the observ- 
ance of the canons of his church as he was inflexible in 
his opinions. Indeed, he had once or twice essayed to 
introduce the Episcopal form of service, on the Sundays 
that the pulpit was vacant; but Richard was a good deal 
addicted to carrying things to an excess, and then there 
was something so papal in his air that the greater part 
of his hearers deserted him on the second Sabbath; on 
the third his only auditor was Ben Pump, who had all 
the obstinate and enlightened orthodoxy of a High Church- 
man. 

Before the war of the Revolution, the English Church 
was supported in the colonies, with much interest, by 
some of its adherents in the mother country, and a few 
of the congregations were very amply endowed. But, for 
a season, after the independence of the States was estab- 
lished, this sect of Christians languished, for the want of 
the highest order of its priesthood. Pious and suitable 
divines were at length selected, and sent to the mother 
country, to receive that authority, which, it is under- 

1 [Laurence Sterne, 1713-1768, is better known as novelist and humorist 
than as clergyman ; yet the author of Tristram Shandy and the *Senti- 
mental Journey published several volumes of sermons which were widely 
popular. He held orders in the Church of England.] 


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99 


stood, can only be transmitted directly from one to the 
other, and thus obtain, in order to preserve, that unity 
in their churches which properly belonged to a people of 
the same nation. But unexpected difficulties presented 
themselves, in the oaths with which the policy of Eng- 
land had fettered their establishment; and much time 
was spent before a conscientious sense of duty would per- 
mit the prelates of Britain to delegate the authority so 
earnestly sought. Time, patience, and zeal, however, re- 
moved every impediment; and the venerable men who 
had been set apart by the American churches at length 
returned to their expecting dioceses, endowed with the 
most elevated functions of their earthly church. Priests 
and deacons were ordained; and missionaries provided to 
keep alive the expiring flame of devotion in such members 
as were deprived of the ordinary administrations, by 
dwelling in new and unorganized districts. 

Of this number was Mr. Grant. He had been sent 
into the country of which Templeton was the capital, and 
had been kindly invited by Marmaduke, and officiously 
pressed by Bichard, to take up his abode in the village. 
A small and humble dwelling was prepared for his family, 
and the divine had made his appearance in the place but 
a few days previously to the time of his introduction to 
the reader. As his forms were entirely new to most of 
the inhabitants, and a clergyman of another denomination 
had previously occupied the field, by engaging the acad- 
emy, the first Sunday after his arrival was suffered to pass 
in silence; but now that his rival had passed on like a 
meteor, filling the air with the light of his wisdom, Bichard 
was chosen the one to give notice that “Public worship, 
after the forms of the Protestant Episcopal Church, would 
be held on the night before Christmas, in the long room 
of the academy in Templeton, by the Bev. Mr. Grant.” 1 

This annunciation excited great commotion among the 
different sectaries. Some wondered as to the nature of 
the exhibition; others sneered; but a far greater part, 
recollecting the essays of Bichard in that way, and mind- 
i See Appendix, Note B. 


100 


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ful of the liberality, or rather laxity of Marmaduke’s no- 
tions on the subject of sectarianism, thought it most pru- 
dent to be silent. 

The expected evening was, however, the wonder of the 
hour; nor was the curiosity at all diminished, when Rich- 
ard and Benjamin, on the morning of the eventful day, 
were seen to issue from the woods in the neighborhood of 
the village, each bearing on his shoulders a large hunch 
of evergreens. This worthy pair was observed to enter 
the academy, and carefully to fasten the door, after which 
their proceedings remained a profound secret to the rest 
of the village ; Mr. Jones, before he commenced this mys- 
terious business, having informed the schoolmaster, to the 
great delight of the white-headed flock he governed, that 
there could be no school that day. Marmaduke was ap- 
prised of all these preparations by letter, and it was espe- 
cially arranged, that he and Elizabeth should arrive in 
season to participate in the solemnities of the evening. 

After this digression, we shall return to our narrative. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Now all admire, in each high-flavored dish, 

The capabilities of flesh — fowl — fish ; 

In order due each guest assumes his station, 

Throbs high his breast with fond anticipation 
And prelibates the joys of mastication. 

Heliogabaliad. 

The apartment to which Monsieur Le Quoi handed 
Elizabeth communicated with the hall, through the door 
that led under the urn which was supposed to contain the 
ashes of Dido. The room was spacious, and of very just 
proportions; but in its ornaments and furniture, the same 
diversity of taste and imperfection of execution were to 
be observed as existed in the hall. Of furniture, there 
were a dozen green, wooden armchairs, with cushions of 
moreen, taken from the same piece as the petticoat of 
Remarkable. The tables were spread, and their materials 
and workmanship could not be seen ; but they were heavy, 


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101 


and of great size. An enormous mirror, in a gilt frame, 
hung against the wall, and a cheerful fire, of the hard or 
sugar maple, was burning on the hearth. The latter was 
the first object that struck the attention of the Judge, who 
on beholding it exclaimed, rather angrily, to Richard : — 

“How often have I forbidden the use of the sugar- 
maple in my dwelling! The sight of that sap, as it ex- 
udes with the heat, is painful to me, Richard. Really, it 
behooves the owner of woods so extensive as mine to he 
cautious what example he sets his people, who are already 
felling the forests, as if no end could be found to their 
treasures nor any limits to their extent. If we go on 
in this way, twenty years hence we shall want fuel.” 

“Fuel in these hills, cousin 'Duke!” exclaimed Rich- 
ard in derision, “fuel! why, you might as well predict 
that the fish will die for the want of water in the lake, 
because I intend, when the frost gets out of the ground, 
to lead one or two of the springs through logs into the 
village. But you are always a little wild on such sub- 
jects, Marmaduke.” 

“Is it wildness,” returned the Judge, earnestly, “to 
condemn a practice which devotes these jewels of the for- 
est, these precious gifts of nature, these mines of comfort 
and wealth, to the common uses of a fireplace? But I 
must, and will, the instant the snow is off the earth, send 
out a party into the mountains to explore for coal.” 

“Coal! ” echoed Richard; “who the devil do you 
think will dig for coal, when in hunting for a bushel he 
would have to rip up more roots of trees, than would 
keep him in fuel for a twelvemonth ? Poh ! poh ! Mar- 
maduke, you should leave the management of these things 
to me, who have a natural turn that way. It was I that 
ordered this fire, and a noble one it is, to warm the blood 
of my pretty cousin Bess.” 

“The motive, then, must be your apology, Dickon,” 
said the Judge. “But, gentlemen, we are waiting. 
Elizabeth, my child, take the head of the table; Richard, 
I see, means to spare me the trouble of carving, by sit- 
ting opposite to you.” 


102 


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“To be sure I do,” cried Richard; “here is a turkey 
to carve; and I flatter myself that I understand carving 
a turkey, or, for that matter, a goose, as well as any man 
alive. Mr. Grant! where’s Mr. Grant? will you please 
to say grace, sir? Everything is getting cold. Take a 
thing from the fire, this cold weather, and it will freeze 
in five minutes. Mr. Grant! we want you to say grace. 
1 Eor what we are about to receive, the Lord make us 
thankful. ’ Come, sit down, sit down. Do you eat wing 
or breast, cousin Bess ? ” 

But Elizabeth had not taken her seat, nor was she in 
readiness to receive either the wing or breast. Her laugh- 
ing eyes were glancing at the arrangements of the table 
and the quality and selection of the food. The eyes of 
the father soon met the wondering looks of his daughter, 
and he said, with a smile, — 

“You perceive, my child, how much we are indebted 
to Remarkable for her skill in housewifery; she has in- 
deed provided a noble repast, such as well might stop the 
cravings of hunger.” 

“Law!” said Remarkable, “I’m glad if the Judge is 
pleased; but I ’m notional that you ’ll find the sa’ce over- 
done. I thought, as Elizabeth was coming home, that 
a body could do no less than make things agreeable. ” 

“My daughter has now grown to woman’s estate, and 
is from this moment mistress of my house,” said the 
Judge ; “ it is proper that all who live with me address 
her as Miss Temple.” 

“Z>o tell!” exclaimed Remarkable, a little aghast; 
“well, who ever heerd of a young woman’s being called 
Miss? If the Judge had a wife now, I shouldn’t think 
of calling her anything but Miss Temple ; but ” — 

“Having nothing but a daughter, you will observe that 
style to her, if you please, in future,” interrupted Marma- 
duke. 

As the Judge looked seriously displeased, and at such 
moments carried a particularly commanding air with him, 
the wary housekeeper made no reply; and, Mr. Grant 
entering the room, the whole party were soon seated at 


THE PIONEERS 


103 


the table. As the arrangements of this repast were much 
in the prevailing taste of that period and country, we 
shall endeavor to give a short description of the appear- 
ance of the banquet. 

The table-linen was of the most beautiful damask, and 
the plates and dishes of real china, an article of great 
luxury at this early period in American commerce. The 
knives and forks were of exquisitely polished steel, and 
were set in unclouded ivory. So much, being furnished 
by the wealth of Marmaduke, was not only comfortable, 
but even elegant. The contents of the several dishes, 
and their positions, however, were the result of the sole 
judgment of Remarkable. Before Elizabeth was placed 
an enormous roasted turkey, and before Richard, one 
boiled. In the centre of the table stood a pair of heavy 
silver casters, surrounded by four dishes: one a fricassee, 
that consisted of gray squirrels; another of fish fried; a 
third of fish boiled; the last was a venison steak. Be- 
tween these dishes and the turkeys stood, on the one 
side, a prodigious chine of roasted bear’s meat, and on 
the other a boiled leg of delicious mutton. Interspersed 
among this load of meats was every species of vegetables 
that the season and country afforded. The four corners 
were garnished with plates of cake. On one was piled 
certain curiously twisted and complicated figures, called 
“nut-cakes.” On another were heaps of a black-looking 
substance, which, receiving its hue from molasses, was 
properly termed “ sweet-cake ; ” a wonderful favorite in 
the coterie of Remarkable. A third was filled, to use the 
language of the housekeeper, with “cards of gingerbread;” 
and the last held a “plum-cake,” so called from the num- 
ber of large raisins that were showing their black heads, 
in a substance of a suspiciously similar color. At each 
corner of the table stood saucers, filled with a thick fluid, 
of somewhat equivocal color and consistence, variegated 
with small dark lumps of a substance that resembled no- 
thing but itself, which Remarkable termed her “sweet- 
meats.” At the side of each plate, which was placed 
bottom upwards, with its knife and fork most accurately 


104 


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crossed above it, stood another, of smaller size, containing 
a motley-looking pie — composed of triangular slices of 
apple, mince, pumpkin, cranberry, and custard , so ar- 
ranged as to form an entire whole. Decanters of brandy, 
rum, gin, and wine, with sundry pitchers of cider, beer, 
and one hissing vessel of “flip,” were put wherever an 
opening would admit of their introduction. Notwith- 
standing the size of the tables, there was scarcely a spot 
where the rich damask could be seen, so crowded were 
the dishes with their associated bottles, plates, and sau- 
cers. The object seemed to be profusion, and it was ob- 
tained entirely at the expense of order and elegance. 

All the guests, as well as the Judge himself, seemed 
perfectly familiar with this description of fare, for each 
one commenced eating, with an appetite that promised to 
do great honor to Remarkable’s taste and skill. What 
rendered this attention to the repast a little surprising 
was the fact that both the German and Richard had been 
summoned from another table, to meet the Judge; but 
Major Hartmann both ate a*nd drank without any rule, 
when on his excursions; and Mr. Jones invariably made 
it a point to participate in the business in hand, let it be 
what it would. The host seemed to think some apology 
necessary for the warmth he had betrayed on the subject 
of the firewood, and when the party were comfortably 
seated, and engaged with their knives and forks, he ob- 
served : — 

“The wastefulness of the settlers with the noble trees 
of this country is shocking, Monsieur Le Quoi, as doubt- 
less you have noticed. I have seen a man fell a pine, 
when he has been in want of fencing-stuff, and roll his 
first cuts into the gap, where he left it to rot, though its 
top would have made rails enough to answer his purpose, 
and its butt would have sold in the Philadelphia market 
for twenty dollars.” 

“And how the devil — I beg your pardon, Mr. Grant,” 
interrupted Richard ; “but how is the poor devil to get 
his logs to the Philadelphia market, pray ? put them in 
his pocket, ha ! as you would a handful of chestnuts, or 


THE PIONEERS 


105 


a bunch of checkerberries 1 I should like to see you 
walking up High Street, with a pine log in each pocket ! 
Poh! poh! cousin ’Duke, there are trees enough for us 
all, and some to spare. Why, I can hardly tell which 
way the wind blows, when I ’m out in the clearings, they 
are so thick and so tall: I couldn’t at all, if it wasn’t 
for the clouds, and I happen to know all the points of 
the compass, as it were, by heart.” 

“Aye, aye, Squire,” cried Benjamin, who had now 
entered, and taken his place behind the Judge’s chair, a 
little aside withal, in order to be ready for any observa- 
tion like the present, “look aloft, sir, look aloft. The 
old seamen say that the devil wouldn’t make a sailor, 
unless he looked aloft. As for the compass, why, there 
is no such thing as steering without one. I ’m sure I 
never lose sight of the main- top, as I call the Squire’s 
lookout on the roof, but I set my compass, d’ ye see, and 
take the bearings and distance of things, in order to work 
out my course, if-so-be that it should cloud up, or the 
tops of the trees should shut out the light of heaven. 
The steeple of St. Paul’s, now that we have got it on 
end, is a great help to the navigation of the woods, for, 
by the Lord Harry, as I was ” — 

“It is well, Benjamin,” interrupted Marmaduke, ob- 
serving that his daughter manifested displeasure at the 
majordomo’s familiarity; “but you forget there is a lady 
in company, and the women love to do most of the talk- 
ing themselves.” 

“The Judge says the true word,” cried Benjamin, 
with one of his discordant laughs; “now here is Mistress 
Remarkable Pretty bones; just take the stopper off her 
tongue, and you ’ll hear a gabbling, worse like than if you 
should happen to fall to leeward in crossing a French 
privateer, or some such thing, mayhap, as a dozen mon- 
keys stowed in one bag.” 

It were impossible to say how perfect an illustration of 
the truth of Benjamin’s assertion the housekeeper would 
have furnished, if she had dared; but the Judge looked 
sternly at her, and, unwilling to incur his resentment, yet 


106 


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unable to contain her anger, she threw herself out of the 
room, with a toss of the body that nearly separated her 
frail form in the centre. 

“Richard,” said Marmaduke, observing that his dis- 
pleasure had produced the desired effect, “ can you inform 
me of anything concerning the youth whom I so unfortu- 
nately wounded? I found him on the mountain, hunting 
in company with the Leather- Stocking, as if they M r ere 
of the same family; but there is a manifest difference in 
their manners. The youth delivers himself in chosen 
language — such as is seldom heard in these hills, and 
such as occasions great surprise to me, how one so meanly 
clad and following so lowly a pursuit could attain. Mo- 
hegan also knew him. Doubtless he is a tenant of 
Natty’s hut. Did you remark the language of the lad, 
Monsieur Le Quoi ? ” 

“ Certainement, Monsieur Tempi’, ” returned the French- 
man, “ he deed conovairse in de excellent Anglaise. ” 

“The boy is no miracle,” exclaimed Richard; “I’ve 
known children that were sent to school early, talk much 
better before they were twelve years old. There was 
Zared Coe, old Nehemiah’s son, who first settled on the 
beaver - dam meadow ; he could write almost as good a 
hand as myself when he was fourteen; though it’s true, 
I helped to teach him a little in the evenings. But this 
shooting gentleman ought to be put in the stocks, if he 
ever takes a rein in his hand again. He is the most awk- 
ward fellow about a horse I ever met with. I dare say, 
he never drove anything but oxen in his life.” 

“There, I think, Dickon, you do the lad injustice,” 
said the Judge;* “he uses much discretion in critical mo- 
ments. Dost thou not think so, Bess ? ” 

There was nothing in this question particularly to ex- 
cite blushes, but Elizabeth started from the reverie into 
which she had fallen, and colored to her forehead, as she 
answered : — 

“To me, dear sir, he appeared extremely skillful, and 
prompt, and courageous; but perhaps cousin Richard will 
say I am as ignorant as the gentleman himself.” 


THE PIONEERS 


107 


“ Gentleman ! ” echoed Eichard; “do you call such 
chaps gentlemen, at school, Elizabeth 1 ” 

“Every man is a gentleman that knows how to treat 
a woman with respect and consideration,” returned the 
young lady, promptly, and a little smartly. 

“So much for hesitating to appear before the heiress 
in his shirt sleeves,” cried Eichard, winking at Monsieur 
Le Quoi, who returned the wink with one eye, while he 
rolled the other, with an expression of sympathy, towards 
the young lady. “Well, well,. to me he seemed anything 
but a gentleman. I must say, however, for the lad, that 
he draws a good trigger, and has a true aim. He ’s good 
at shooting a buck, ha ! Marmaduke ? ” 

“Eichart,” said Major Hartmann, turning his grave 
countenance towards the gentleman he addressed, with 
much earnestness, “ter poy is goot. He savet your life, 
and my life, and ter life of Tominie Grant, and ter life 
of ter Frenchman ; and, Eichart, he shall never vont a 
pet to sleep in vile olt Fritz Hartmann has a shingle to 
cover his het mit.” 

“Well, well, as you please, old gentleman,” returned 
Mr. Jones, endeavoring to look indifferent; “put him 
into your own stone house, if you wifi, Major. I dare 
say the lad never slept in anything better than a bark 
shanty in his life, unless it was some such hut as the 
cabin of Leather-Stocking. I prophesy you will soon 
spoil him: any one could see how proud he grew, in a 
short time, just because he stood by my horses’ heads, 
while I turned them into the highway.” 

“No, no, my old friend,” cried Marmaduke, “it shall 
be my task to provide in some manner for the youth. I 
owe him a debt of my own, besides the service he has 
done me, through my friends. And yet I anticipate some 
little trouble in inducing him to accept of my services. 
He showed a marked dislike, I thought, Bess, to my 
offer of a residence within these walls for life.” 

“Eeally, dear sir,” said Elizabeth, projecting her beau- 
tiful under-lip, “I have not studied the gentleman so 
closely as to read his feelings in his countenance. I 


108 


THE PIONEERS 


thought he might very naturally feel pain from his wound, 
and therefore pitied him ; but ” — and as she .spoke she 
glanced her eye, with suppressed curiosity, towards the 
major-domo — “I dare say, sir, that Benjamin can tell 
you something about him. He cannot have been in the 
village, and Benjamin not have seen him often. ” 

“Aye, I have seen the boy before,” said Benjamin, 
who wanted little encouragement to speak; “he has been 
hacking and filling in the wake of Natty Bumppo, through 
the mountains, after deer, like a Dutch long-boat in tow 
of an Albany sloop. He carries a good rifle, too. The 
Leather-Stocking said, in my hearing before Betty Hol- 
lister’s bar-room fire, no later than Tuesday night, that 
the younker was certain death to the wild beasts. If- 
so-be he can kill the wild-cat that has been heard moan- 
ing on the lake side since the hard frosts and deep snows 
have driven the deer to herd, he will he doing the thing 
that is good. Your wild-cat is a bad shipmate, and 
should be made to cruise out of the track of Christian 
men.” 

“ Lives he in the hut of Bumppo ? ” asked Marmaduke, 
with some interest. 

“Cheek by jowl: the Wednesday will he three weeks 
since he first hove in sight, in company with Leather- 
Stocking. They had captured a wolf between them, and 
had brought in his scalp for the bounty. That Mister 
Bump-ho has a handy turn with him, in taking off a 
scalp; and there’s them in this here village who say he 
larnt the trade by working on Christian men. If-so-be 
that there is truth in the saying, and I commanded along 
shore here as your honor does, why, d’ ye see, I ’d bring 
him to the gangway for it yet. There ’s a very pretty 
post rigged alongside of the stocks; and for the matter of 
a cat, I can fit one with my own hands ; aye ! and use it 
too, for the want of a better.” 

“You are not to credit the idle tales you hear of Natty, 
he has a kind of natural right to gain a livelihood in these 
mountains; and if the idlers in the village take it into 
their heads to annoy him, as they sometimes do reputed 


THE PIONEERS 


109 


rogues, they shall find him protected by the strong arm 
of the law.” 

“Ter rifle is petter as ter law,” said the Major, senten- 
tiously. 

“That for his rifle!” exclaimed Richard, snapping his 
fingers; “Ben is right, and I” — He was stopped by 
the sounds of a common ship-bell, that had been elevated 
to the belfry of the academy, which now announced, by 
its incessant ringing, that the hour for the appointed ser- 
vice had arrived. “ ‘ For this, and every other instance 
of his goodness ’ — I beg pardon, Mr. Grant, will you 
please to return thanks, sir? it is time we should be 
moving, as we are the only Episcopalians in the neighbor- 
hood; that is, I, and Benjamin, and Elizabeth; for I 
count half-breeds, like Marmaduke, as bad as heretics.” 

The divine arose, and performed the office, meekly and 
fervently, and the whole party instantly prepared them- 
selves for the church — or rather academy. 


CHAPTER X. 


And, calling sinful man to pray, 

Loud, long, and deep, the bell had tolled. 

Walter Scott : The Wild Huntsman, 12. 


While Eichard and Monsieur Le Quoi, attended by 
Benjamin, proceeded to the academy by a footpath through 
the snow, the Judge, his daughter, the divine, and the 
Major, took a more circuitous route to the same place by 
the streets of the village. 

The moon had risen, and its orb was shedding a flood 
of light over the dark outline of pines which crowned the 
eastern mountain. In many climates the sky would have 
been thought clear and lucid for a noontide. The stars 
twinkled in the heavens, like the last glimmerings of dis- 
tant fire, so much were they obscured by the overwhelm- 
ing radiance of the atmosphere ; the rays from the moon 
striking upon the smooth white surfaces of the lake and 


no 


THE PIONEERS 


fields, reflecting upwards a light that was brightened by 
the spotless color of the immense bodies of snow which 
covered the earth. 

Elizabeth employed herself with reading the signs, one 
of which appeared over almost every door; while the 
sleigh moved steadily, and at an easy gait, along the prin- 
cipal street. Not only new occupations, but names that 
were strangers to her ears, met her gaze at every step 
they proceeded. The very houses seemed changed. This 
had been altered by an addition ; that had been painted : 
another had been erected on the site of an old acquaint- 
ance, which had been banished from the earth almost as 
soon as it made its appearance on it. All were, however, 
pouring forth their inmates, who uniformly held their 
way towards the point where the expected exhibition of 
the conjoint taste of Richard and Benjamin was to be 
made. 

After viewing the buildings, which really appeared to 
some advantage, under the bright but mellow light of the 
moon, our heroine turned her eyes to a scrutiny of the 
different figures that they passed, in search of any form 
that she knew. But all seemed alike, as muffled in 
cloaks, hoods, coats, or tippets, they glided along the 
narrow passages in the snow which led under the houses, 
half hid by the bank that had been thrown up in exca- 
vating the deep path in which they trod. Once of twice 
she thought there was a stature or a gait that she recol- 
lected but the person who owned it instantly disappeared 
behind one of those enormous piles of wood that lay be- 
fore most of the doors. It was only as they turned from 
the main street into another that intersected it at right 
angles, and which led directly to the place of meeting, 
that she recognized a face and building that she knew. 

The house stood at one of the principal corners in the 
village; and, by its well-trodden doorway, as well as the 
sign that was swinging with a kind of doleful sound in 
the blasts that occasionally swept down the lake, was 
clearly one of the most frequented inns in the place. The 
building was only of one story; but the dormer windows 


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111 


in the roof, the paint, the window - shutters, and the 
cheerful .fire that shone through the open door, gave it 
an air of comfort that was not possessed by many of its 
neighbors. The sign was suspended from a common ale- 
house post, and represented the figure of a horseman, 
armed with sabre and pistols, and surmounted by a bear- 
skin cap, with a fiery animal that he bestrode “rampant.” 
All these particulars were easily to be seen by the aid of 
the moon, together with a row of somewhat illegible writ- 
ing in black paint, but in which Elizabeth, to whom the 
whole was familiar, read with facility, “The Bold Dra- 
goon.” 

A man and a woman were issuing from the door of this 
habitation as the sleigh was passing. The former moved 
with a stiff, military step, that was a good deal height- 
ened by a limp in one leg; but the woman advanced with 
a measure and an air that seemed not particularly regard- 
ful of what she might encounter. The light of the moon 
fell directly upon her full, broad, and red visage, exhib- 
iting her masculine countenance under the mockery of 
a ruffled cap, that was intended to soften the lineaments 
of features that were by no means squeamish. A small 
bonnet, of black silk and of a slightly formal cut, was 
placed on the back of her head, hut so as not to shade 
her visage in the least. Her face, as it encountered the 
rays of the moon from the east, seemed not unlike a sun 
rising in the west. She advanced, with masculine strides, 
to intercept the sleigh; and the Judge, directing the name- 
sake of the Grecian king, who held the lines, to check 
his horses, the parties were soon near to each other. 

“Good luck to ye, and a wilcome home, Jooge!” cried 
the female, with a strong Irish accent; “and I’m sure 
it ’s to me that ye ’re always wilcome. Sure ! and there ’s 
Miss Lizzy, and a fine young woman is she grown. What 
a heart-ach’ would she be giving the young men now, if 
there was sich a thing as a rigiment in the town ! Och ! 
hut it ’s idle to talk of sich vanities, while the hell is 
calling us to mating, jist as we shall be called away un- 
expictedly, some day, when we are the laist calkilating. 


112 


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Good even, Major: will I make the howl of gin toddy 
the night? or it ’s likely ye ’ll stay at the big house the 
Christmas Eve, and the very night of yer getting there ? ” 

“I am glad to see you, Mrs. Hollister,” returned Eliza- 
beth. “I have been trying to find a face that I knew, 
since we left the door of the Mansion-house; but none 
have I seen except your own. Your house, too, is unal- 
tered; while all the others are so changed that, but for 
the places where they stand, they would be utter strangers. 
I observe you also keep the dear sign that I saw cousin 
Richard paint; and even the name at the bottom, about 
which, . you may remember, you had the disagreement. ” 

“It is the Bould Dragoon ye mane? And what name 
would he have, who niver was known by any other, as 
my husband here, the Captain, can testify. He was a 
pleasure to wait upon, and was ever the foremost in need. 
Och! but he had a sudden end! But it’s to be hoped 
that he was justified by the cause. And it ’s not Parson 
Grant there who’ll gainsay that same. Yes, yes; the 
Squire would paint, and so I thought that we might have 
his face up there, who had so often shared good and evil 
wid us. The eyes is no so large nor so fiery as the cap- 
tain’s own; but the whiskers and the cap is as like as 
two paes. Well, well, I ’ll not keep ye in the cowld, 
talking, but will drop in the morrow after service, and 
ask ye how ye do. It ’s our bounden duty to make the 
most of this present, and to go to the house which is open 
to all; so God bless ye, and keep ye from evil! Will I 
make the gin-twist the night, or no, Maj or ? ” 

To this question the German replied, very sententiously, 
in the affirmative; and after a few words had passed be- 
tween the husband of this fiery-faced hostess and the 
Judge, the sleigh moved on. It soon reached the door 
of the academy, where the party alighted and entered the 
building. 

In the meantime, Mr. Jones and his two companions, 
having a much shorter distance to journey, had arrived 
before the appointed place several minutes sooner than 
the party in the sleigh. Instead of hastening into the 


THE PIONEERS 


113 


room, in order to enjoy the astonishment of the settlers, 
Richard placed a hand in either pocket of his surtout, and 
affected to walk about, in front of the academy, like one 
to whom the ceremonies were familiar. 

The villagers proceeded uniformly into the building, 
with a decorum and gravity that nothing could move, on 
such occasions ; but with a haste that was probably a little 
heightened by curiosity. Those who came in from the 
adjacent country spent some little time in placing certain 
blue and white blankets over their horses before they 
proceeded to indulge their desire to view the interior of 
the house. Most of these men Richard approached, and 
inquired after the health and condition of their families. 
The readiness with which he mentioned the names of 
even the children showed how very familiarly acquainted 
he was with their circumstances; and the nature of the 
answers he received proved that he was a general favorite. 

At length one of the pedestrians from the village 
stopped also, and fixed an earnest gaze at a new brick 
edifice, that was throwing a long shadow across the fields 
of snow, as it rose, with a beautiful gradation of light 
and shade, under the rays of a full moon. In front of 
the academy was a vacant piece of ground, that was in- 
tended for a public square. On the side opposite to Mr. 
Jones the new and as yet unfinished church of St. Paul’s 
was erected. This edifice had been reared during the 
preceding summer, by the aid of what was called a sub- 
scription; though all, or nearly all, of the money came 
from the pocket of the landlord. It had been built under 
a strong conviction of the necessity of a more seemly 
place of worship than the “long room of the academy,” 
and under an implied agreement that, after its completion, 
the question should be fairly put to the people, that they 
might decide to what denomination it should belong. Of 
course, this expectation kept alive a strong excitement in 
some few of the sectaries who were interested in its deci- 
sion; though hut little was said openly on the subject. 
Had Judge Temple espoused the cause of any particular 
sect, the question would have been immediately put at 


114 


THE PIONEERS 


rest, for his influence was too powerful to be opposed; 
but he declined interference in the matter, positively refus- 
ing to lend even the weight of his name on the side of 
Richard, who had secretly given an assurance to his dio- 
cesan that both the building and the congregation would 
cheerfully come within the pale of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. But when the neutrality of the Judge 
was clearly ascertained, Mr. Jones discovered that he had 
to contend with a stiff-necked people. His first measure 
was to go among them, and commence a course of reason- 
ing, in order to bring them round to his own way of 
thinking. They all heard him patiently, and not a man 
uttered a word in reply, in the way of argument: and 
Richard thought, by the time that he had gone through 
the settlement, the point was conclusively decided in his 
favor. Willing to strike while the iron was hot, he 
called a meeting, through the newspaper, with a view to 
decide the question by a vote at once. Not a soul at- 
tended; and one of the most anxious afternoons that he 
had ever known was spent by Richard in a vain discus- 
sion with Mrs. Hollister, who strongly contended that 
the Methodist (her own) Church was the best entitled to, 
and most deserving of, the possession of the new taber- 
nacle. Richard now perceived that he had been too 
sanguine, and had fallen into the error of all those who 
ignorantly deal with that wary and sagacious people. He 
assumed a disguise himself, that is, as well as he knew 
how, and proceeded step by step to advance his purpose. 

The task of erecting the building had been unanimously 
transferred to Mr. Jones and Hiram Doolittle. Together 
they had built the mansion-house, the academy, and the 
jail; and they alone knew how to plan and rear such a 
structure as was now required. Early in the day, these 
architects had made an equitable division of their duties. 
To the former was assigned the duty of making all the 
plans, and to the latter the labor of superintending the 
execution. 

Availing himself of this advantage, Richard silently 
determined that the windows should have the Roman 


THE PIONEERS 


115 


arch ; the first positive step in effecting his wishes. As 
the building was made of bricks, he was enabled to con- 
ceal his design until the moment arrived for placing the 
frames: then, indeed, it became necessary to act. He 
communicated his wishes to Hiram with great caution; 
and, without in the least adverting to the spiritual part 
of his project, he pressed the point a little warmly on 
the score of architectural beauty. Hiram heard him pa- 
tiently, and without contradiction; but still Richard was 
unable to discover the views of his coadjutor on this in- 
teresting subject. As the right to plan was duly dele- 
gated to Mr. Jones, no direct objection was made in 
words, but numberless unexpected difficulties arose in the 
execution. At first there was a scarcity in the right kind 
of material necessary to form the frames; but this objec- 
tion was instantly silenced by Richard running his pencil 
through two feet of their length at one stroke. Then the 
expense was mentioned; but Richard reminded Hiram 
that his cousin paid, and that he was his treasurer. This 
last intimation had great weight, and after a silent and 
protracted, hut fruitless opposition, the work was suffered 
to proceed on the original plan. 

The next difficulty occurred in the steeple, which Rich- 
ard had modeled after one of the smaller of those spires 
that adorn the great London Cathedral. The imitation 
was somewhat lame, it is true, the proportions being but 
indifferently observed — hut, after much difficulty, Mr. 
Jones had the satisfaction of seeing an object reared that 
bore, in its outlines, a striking resemblance to a vinegar- 
cruet. There was less opposition to this model than to 
the windows; for the settlers were fond of novelty, and 
their steeple was without a precedent. 

Here the labor ceased for the season, and the difficult 
question of the interior remained for further deliberation. 
Richard well knew that when he came to propose a read- 
ing desk and a chancel he must unmask; for these were 
arrangements known to no church in the country but his 
own. Presuming, however, on the advantages he had 
already obtained, he boldly styled the building St. Paul’s, 


116 


THE PIONEERS 


and Hiram prudently acquiesced in this appellation, mak- 
ing, however, the slight addition of calling it “ New St. 
Paul’s,” feeling less aversion to a name taken from the 
English Cathedral than from the saint. 

The pedestrian whom we have already mentioned, as 
pausing to contemplate this edifice, was no other than the 
gentleman so frequently named as Mr., or Squire, Doo- 
little. He was of a tall, gaunt formation, with rather 
sharp features, and a face that expressed formal propriety 
mingled with low cunning. Richard approached him, 
followed by Monsieur Le Quoi and the major-domo. 

“Good evening, Squire,” said Richard, bobbing his 
head, but without moving his hands from his pockets. 

“Good evening, Squire,” echoed Hiram, turning his 
body in order to turn his head also. 

“A cold night, Mr. Doolittle, a cold night, sir.” 

“Coolish; a tedious spell on’ t.” 

“What, looking at our church, ha! it looks well, by 
moonlight ; how the tin of the cupola glistens ! I warrant 
you the dome of the other St. Paul’s never shines so in 
the smoke of London.” 

“It is a pretty meeting-house to look on,” returned 
Hiram, “and I believe that Monshure Ler Quow and Mr. 
Penguilliam will allow it.” 

“ Sairtainlee ! ” exclaimed the complaisant Frenchman; 
“it ees ver’ fine.” 

“I thought the Monshure would say so. The last mo- 
lasses that we had was excellent good. It isn’t likely 
that you have any more of it on hand 1 ” 

“Ah! oui; ees, sair,” returned Monsieur Le Quoi, 
with a slight shrug of his shoulder and a trifling grimace, 
“dere is more. I feel ver’ happi dat you love eet. I 
hope dat Madame Doleet’ is in good ’ealth.” 

“Why, so as to be stirring,” said Hiram. “The 
Squire hasn’t finished the plans for the inside of the 
meeting-house yet 1 ” 

“No, no, no,” returned Richard, speaking quickly, but 
making a significant pause between each negative, “it 
requires reflection. There is a great deal of room to fill 


THE PIONEERS 


117 


lip, and I am afraid we shall not know how to dispose of 
it to advantage. There will be a large vacant spot around 
the pulpit, which I do not mean to place against the wall, 
like a sentry-box stuck up on the side of a fort.” 

“It is rulable to put the deacon’s box under the pul- 
pit,” said Hiram; and then, as if he had ventured too 
much, he added, “but there ’s different fashions in differ- 
ent countries.” 

“That there is,” cried Benjamin; “now, in running 
down the coast of Spain and Portingall, you may see a 
nunnery stuck out on every headland, with more steeples 
and outriggers, such as dog-vanes and weather-cocks, than 
you ’ll find aboard of a three-masted schooner. If-so-be 
that a well-built church is wanting, Old England, after 
all, is the country to go to after your models and fashion 
pieces. As to Paul’s, tho’ ’f I ’ve never seen it, being that 
it ’s a long way up town from Radcliffe highway 1 and the 
docks, yet everybody knows that it ’s the grandest place 
in the world. Now, I ’ve no opinion but this here church 
over there is as like one end of it as a grampus is to a 
whale; and that ’s only a small difference in bulk. Moun- 
sheer Ler Quaw, here, has been in foreign parts; and 
tho’ ’f that is not the same as having been at home, yet he 
must have seen churches in France too, and can form a 
small idee of what a church should be; now, I ask the 
Mounsheer to his face, if it is not a clever little thing, 
taking it by and large ? ” 

“ It ees ver’ apropos of saircumstance, ” said the French- 
man, “ver’ judgment; but it is in de Catholique country 
dat dey build de — vat you call — ah a ah-ha — la grande 
cathedrale, de big church. St. Paul, Londre, is ver’ fine; 
ver’ belle; ver’ grand — vat you call beeg; but, Monsieur 
Ben, pardonnez moi, it is no vort so much as Notre Dame.” 

“ Ha ! Mounsheer, what is that you say ? ” cried Ben- 
jamin, “St. Paul’s church not worth so much as a damn! 

1 [Ratcliff Highway, now St. George Street in Stepney, was at the time 
of the story humorously regarded as the Regent Street of London sailors. 
It was the scene of the Marr and Williamson murders, so graphically 
described by DeQuincey]. , 


118 


THE PIONEERS 


Mayhap you may be thinking too that the Boyal Billy 
isn’t so good a ship as the Billy de Paris; but she would 
have licked two of her, any day, and in all weathers.” 

As Benjamin had assumed a very threatening kind of 
attitude, flourishing an arm, with a bunch at the end of 
it that was half as big as Monsieur Le Quoi’s head, Bich- 
ard thought it time to interpose his authority. 

“Hush, Benjamin, hush,” he said; “you both misunder- 
stand Monsieur Le Quoi, and forget yourself. But here 
comes Mr. Grant, and the service will commence. Let us 
go in.” 

The Frenchman, who received Benjamin’s reply with 
a well-bred good humor that would not admit of any feel- 
ing but pity for the other’s ignorance, bowed in acquies- 
cence, and followed his companion. 

Hiram and the major-domo brought up the rear, the 
latter grumbling, as he entered the building : — 

“If-so-be that the King of France had so much as a 
house to live in that would lay alongside of Paul’s, one 
might put up with their jaw. It ’s more than flesh and 
blood can bear, to hear a Frenchman run down an English 
church in this manner. Why, Squire Doolittle, I ’ve 
been at the whipping of two of them in one day — clean- 
built, snug frigates, with standing-royals, and them new- 
fashioned cannonades on their quarters — such as, if they 
had only Englishmen aboard of them, would have fou’t 
the devil.” 

With this ominous word in his mouth, Benjamin en- 
tered the church. 


CHAPTEB XI. 

And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray. 

Goldsmith : The Deserted Village. 

Notwithstanding the united labors of Bichard and 
Benjamin, the “long room” was but an extremely inarti- 
ficial temple. Benches, made in the coarsest manner, and 
entirely with a view to usefulness, were arranged in rows, 


THE PIONEERS 


119 


for the reception of the congregation; while a rough, un- 
painted box was placed against the wall, in the centre of 
the length of the apartment, as an apology for a pulpit* 
Something like a reading-desk was in front of his rostrum ; 
and a small mahogany table, from the mansion-house, 
covered with a spotless damask cloth, stood a little on one 
side, by the way of an altar. Branches of pines and hem- 
locks were stuck in each of the fissures that offered, in the 
unseasoned and hastily-completed woodwork of both the 
building and its furniture; while festoons and hierogly- 
phics met the eye in vast profusion along the brown sides 
of the scratch - coated walls. As the room was only 
lighted by some ten or fifteen miserable candles, and the 
windows were without shutters, it would have been but 
a dreary, cheerless place for the solemnities of a Christ- 
mas Eve, had not the large fire that was crackling at each 
end of the apartment given an air of cheerfulness to the 
scene, by throwing an occasional glare of light through 
the vistas of bushes and faces. 

The two sexes were separated by an area in the centre 
of the room immediately before the pulpit; and a few 
benches lined this space, that were occupied by the prin- 
cipal personages of the village and its vicinity. This dis- 
tinction was rather a gratuitous concession, made by the 
poorer and less polished part of the population, than a 
right claimed by the favored few. One bench was occu- 
pied by the party of Judge Temple, including his daugh- 
ter; and, with the exception of Dr. Todd, no one else ap- 
peared willing to incur the imputation of pride by taking 
a seat in what was, literally, the high place of the taber- 
nacle. 

Richard filled the chair that was placed behind another 
table, in the capacity of clerk; while Benjamin, after 
heaping sundry logs on the fire, posted himself nigh by, 
in reserve for any movement that might require cobpera- 
tion. 

It would greatly exceed our limits to attempt a descrip- 
tion of the congregation ; for the dresses were as various 
as the individuals. Some one article, of more than usual 


120 


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finery, and perhaps the relic of other days, was to he seen 
about most of the females, in connection with the coarse 
attire of the woods. This wore a faded silk, that had 
gone through at least three generations, over coarse, 
black woolen stockings; that, a shawl, whose dyes were 
as numerous as those of the rainbow, over an awkwardly 
fitting gown of rough brown “woman’s wear.” In short, 
each one exhibited some favorite article, and all appeared 
in their best, both men and women; while the ground- 
works in dress, in either sex, were the coarse fabrics 
manufactured within their own dwellings. One man ap- 
peared in the dress of a volunteer company of artillery, of 
which he had been a member in the “down countries,” 
precisely for no other reason than because it was the best 
suit he had. Several, particularly of the younger men, 
displayed pantaloons of blue, edged with red cloth down 
the seams, — part of the equipments of the “ Templeton 
Light Infantry, ” — from a little * vanity to he seen in 
“boughten clothes.” There was also one man in a “rifle 
frock,” with its fringes and folds of spotless white, strik- 
ing a chill to the heart with the idea of its coolness; 
although the thick coat of brown “home-made,” that was 
concealed beneath, preserved a proper degree of warmth. 

There was a marked uniformity of expression in coun- 
tenance, especially in that half of the congregation who 
did not enjoy the advantages of the polish of the village. 
A sallow skin, that indicated nothing but exposure, was 
common to all, as was an air of great decency and atten- 
tion — mingled, generally, with an expression of shrewd- 
ness, and, in the present instance, of active curiosity. 
Now and then a face and dress were to he seen among 
the congregation that differed entirely from this descrip- 
tion. If pock-marked and florid, with gaitered legs, and 
a coat that snugly fitted the person of the wearer, it was 
surely an English emigrant, who had bent his steps to 
this retired quarter of the globe. If hard-featured, and 
without color, with high cheek bones, it was a native of 
Scotland, in similar circumstances. 

The short, black-eyed man, with a cast of the swarthy 


THE PIONEERS 


121 


Spaniard in his face, who rose repeatedly, to make room 
for the belles of the village as they entered, was a son of 
Erin, who had lately left olf his pack, and become a sta- 
tionary trader in Templeton. In short, half the nations 
in the north of Europe had their representatives in this 
assembly, though all had closely assimilated themselves to 
the Americans in dress and appearance, except the Eng- 
lishman. He, indeed, not only adhered to his native cus- 
toms in attire and living, but usually drove his plough, 
among the stumps, in the same manner as he had before 
done on the plains of Norfolk, until dear-bought experi- 
ence taught him the useful lesson, that a sagacious people 
knew what was suited to their circumstances better than a 
casual observer; or a sojourner, who was perhaps too much 
prejudiced to compare, and peradventure too conceited to 
learn. 

Elizabeth soon discovered that she divided the attention 
of the congregation with Mr. Grant. Timidity, there- 
fore, confined her observation of the appearances which 
we have described to stolen glances; hut, as the stamp- 
ing of feet was now becoming less frequent, and even 
the coughing, and other little preliminaries of a congre- 
gation settling themselves down into reverential atten- 
tion, were ceasing, she felt emboldened to look around 
her. Gradually all noises diminished, until the suppressed 
cough denoted that it was necessary to avoid singularity, 
and the most profound stillness pervaded the apartment. 
The snapping of the fires, as they threw a powerful heat 
into the room, was alone heard, and each face and every 
eye were turned on the divine. 

At this moment, a heavy stamping of feet was heard 
in the passage below, as if a new-comer was releasing 
his limbs from the snow that was necessarily clinging to 
the legs of a pedestrian. It was succeeded by, no audible 
tread; but directly Mohegan, followed by the Leather- 
Stocking and the young hunter, made his appearance. 
Their footsteps would not have been heard, as they trod 
the apartment in their moccasins, but for the silence 
which prevailed. 


122 


THE PIONEERS 


The Indian moved with great gravity across the floor, 
and, observing a vacant seat next to the Judge, he took 
it, in a manner that manifested his sense of his own dig- 
nity. Here, drawing his blanket closely around him, so 
as partly to conceal his countenance, he remained, dur- 
ing the service, immovable, but deeply attentive. Natty 
passed the place that was so freely taken by his red com- 
panion, and seated himself on one end of a log that was 
lying near the fire; where he continued, with his rifle 
standing between his legs, absorbed in reflections, seem- 
ingly of no very pleasing nature. The youth found a seat 
among the congregation, and another silence prevailed. 

Mr. Grant now arose, and commenced his service with 
the sublime declaration of the Hebrew prophet: “The 
Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence 
before Him.” The example of Mr. Jones was unneces- 
sary to teach the congregation to rise; the solemnity of 
the divine effected this as by magic. After a short pause, 
Mr. Grant proceeded with the solemn and winning exhor- 
tation of his service. Nothing was heard but the deep, 
though affectionate, tones of the reader, as he slowly went 
through this exordium; until, something unfortunately 
striking the mind of Richard as incomplete, he left his 
place, and walked on tiptoe from the room. 

When the clergyman bent his knees in prayer and con- 
fession, the congregation so far imitated his example as 
to resume their seats; whence no succeeding effort of the 
divine, during the evening, was able to remove them in 
a body. Some rose at times, but by far the larger part 
continued unbending — observant, it is true, but it was 
the kind of observation that regarded the ceremony as a 
spectacle rather than a worship in which they were to 
participate. Thus deserted by his clerk, Mr. Grant con- 
tinued to read ; but no response was audible. The short 
and solemn pause that succeeded each petition was made; 
still no voice repeated the eloquent language of the prayer. 

The lips of Elizabeth moved, but they moved in vain; 
and, accustomed as she was to the service in the churches 
of the metropolis, she was beginning to feel the awkward- 


THE PIONEERS 


123 


ness of the circumstance most painfully, when a soft, low, 
female voice repeated after the priest, “We have left 
undone those things which we ought to have done.” 
Startled at finding one of her own sex in that place who 
could rise superior to natural timidity, Miss Temple 
turned her eyes in the direction of the penitent. She 
observed a young female on her knees, but a short dis- 
tance from her, with her meek face humbly bent over her 
book. 

The appearance of this stranger, for such she was, 
entirely, to Elizabeth, was light and fragile. Her dress 
was neat and becoming; and her countenance, though pale 
and slightly agitated, excited deep interest by its sweet 
and melancholy expression. A second and third response 
were made by this juvenile assistant, when the manly 
sounds of a male voice proceeded from the opposite part 
of the room. Miss Temple knew the tones of the young 
hunter instantly, and struggling to overcome her own dif- 
fidence, she added her low voice to the number. 

All this time Benjamin stood thumbing the leaves of 
a prayer-book with great industry; hut some unexpected 
difficulties prevented his finding the place. Before the 
divine reached the close of the confession, however, Bich- 
ard reappeared at the door, and, as he moved lightly 
across the room, he took up the response, in a voice that 
betrayed no other concern than that of not being heard. 
In his hand he carried a small open box, with the figures 
“ 8 by 10 ” written in black paint on one of its sides ; 
which, having placed in the pulpit, apparently as a foot- 
stool for the divine, he returned to his station in time to 
say, sonorously, “Amen.” The eyes of the congregation 
very naturally were turned to the windows, as Mr. Jones 
entered with this singular load ; and then, as if accustomed 
to his “general agency,” were again bent on the priest, in 
close and curious attention. 

The long experience of Mr. Grant admirably qualified 
him to perform his present duty. He well understood 
the character of his listeners, who were mostly a primi- 
tive people in their habits; and who, being a good deal 


124 


THE PIONEERS 


addicted to subtleties and nice distinctions in their reli- 
gious opinions, view the introduction of any such temporal 
assistance as form into their spiritual worship not only 
with jealousy, hut frequently with disgust. He had ac- 
quired much of his knowledge from studying the great 
book of human nature, as it lay open in the world; and, 
knowing how dangerous it was to contend with ignorance, 
uniformly endeavored to avoid dictating where his better 
reason taught him it was the most prudent to attempt to 
lead. His orthodoxy had no dependence on his cassock; 
he could pray with fervor and with faith, if circumstances 
required it, without the assistance of his clerk; and he 
had even been known to preach a most evangelical sermon 
in the winning manner of native eloquence, without the 
aid of a cambric handkerchief. 

In the present instance he yielded, in many places, to 
the prejudices of his congregation; and when he had 
ended, there was not one of his new hearers who did not 
think the ceremonies less papal and offensive, and more 
conformant to his or her own notions of devout worship, 
than they had been led to expect from a service of forms. 
Richard found in the divine, during the evening, a most 
powerful cooperator in his religious schemes. In preach- 
ing, Mr. Grant endeavored to steer a middle course be- 
tween the mystical doctrines of those sublimated creeds 
which daily involve their professors in the most absurd 
contradictions, and those fluent rules of moral government 
which would reduce the Saviour to a level with the teacher 
of a school of ethics. Doctrine it was necessary to preach, 
for nothing less would have satisfied the disputatious peo- 
ple who were his listeners, and who would have inter- 
preted silence on his part into a tacit acknowledgment 
of the superficial nature of his creed. We have already 
said that, among the endless variety of religious instructors, 
the settlers were accustomed to hear every denomination 
urge its own distinctive precepts; and to have found one 
indifferent to this interesting subject would have been 
destructive to his influence. But Mr. Grant so happily 
blended the universally received opinions of the Christian 


THE PIONEERS 


125 


faith with the dogmas of his own church, that, although 
none were entirely exempt from the influence of his rea- 
sons, very few took any alarm at the innovation. 

“When we consider the great diversity of the human 
character, influenced as it is by education, by opportunity, 
and by the physical and moral conditions of the creature, 
my dear hearers,” he earnestly concluded, “it can excite 
no surprise that creeds so very different in their tenden- 
cies should grow out of a religion, revealed, it is true, 
but whose revelations are obscured by the lapse of ages, 
and whose doctrines were, after the fashion of the coun- 
tries in which they were first promulgated, frequently 
delivered in parables, and in a language abounding in 
metaphors, and loaded with figures. On points where 
the learned have, in purity of heart, been compelled to 
differ, the unlettered will necessarily be at variance. But, 
happily for us, my -brethren, the fountain of divine love 
flows from a source too pure to admit of pollution in its 
course; it extends, to those who drink of its vivifying 
waters, the peace of the righteous, and life everlasting; 
it endures through alLtime and it pervades creation. If 
there be mystery in its workings, it is the mystery of a 
Divinity. With a clear knowledge of the nature, the 
might, and majesty of God, there might be conviction, 
but there could be no faith. If we are required to be- 
lieve in doctrines that seem not in conformity with the 
deductions of human wisdom, let us never forget that 
such is the mandate of a wisdom that is infinite. It is 
sufficient for us that enough is developed to point our 
path aright, and to direct our wandering steps to that 
portal which shall open on the light of an eternal day. 
Then, indeed, it may be humbly hoped that the film 
which has been spread by the subtleties of earthly argu- 
ments will be dissipated by the spiritual light of heaven; 
and that our hour of probation, by the aid of divine 
grace, being once passed in triumph, will be followed by 
an eternity of intelligence, and endless ages of fruition. 
All that is now obscure shall become plain to our ex- 
panded faculties; and what to our present senses may 


126 


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seem irreconcilable to our limited notions of mercy, of 
justice, and of love, shall stand, irradiated by the light 
of truth, confessedly the suggestions of Omniscience, and 
the acts of an All-powerful Benevolence. 

“What a lesson of humility, my brethren, might not 
each of us obtain from a review of his infant hours, and 
the recollection of his juvenile passions! How differently 
do the same acts of parental rigor appear, in the eyes of 
the suffering child, and of the chastened man! When 
the sophist would supplant, with the wild theories of his 
worldly wisdom, the positive mandates of inspiration, let 
him remember the expansion of his own feeble intellects, 
and pause — let him feel the wisdom of God in what is 
partially concealed, as well as in that which is revealed ; 
in short, let him substitute humility for pride of reason — 
let him have faith, and live ! 

“The consideration of this subject is full of consola- 
tion, my hearers, and does not fail to bring with it les- 
sons of humility and of profit, that, duly improved, would 
both chasten the heart and strengthen the feeble-minded 
man in his course. It is a blessed consolation to be able 
to lay the misdoubtings of our arrogant nature at the 
threshold of the dwelling-place of the Deity, from whence 
they shall be swept away, at the great opening of the 
portal, like the mists of the morning before the rising 
sun. It teaches us a lesson of humility, by impressing 
us with the imperfection of human powers, and by warn- 
ing us of the many weak points where we are open to the 
attacks of the great enemy of our race; it proves to us 
that we are in danger of being weak, when our vanity 
would fain soothe us into the belief that we are most 
strong ; it forcibly points out to us the vainglory of intel- 
lect, and shows us the vast difference between a saving 
faith and the corollaries of a philosophical theology; and 
it teaches us to reduce our self-examination to the test 
of good works. By good works must be understood the 
fruits of repentance, the chiefest of which is charity. 
Not that charity only which causes us to help the needy 
and comfort the suffering, but that feeling of universal 


THE PIONEERS 


127 


philanthropy, which, by teaching ns to love, causes us to 
judge with lenity all men; striking at the root of self- 
righteousness, and warning us to be sparing of our con- 
demnation of others, while our own salvation is not yet 
secure. 

“The lesson of expediency, my brethren, which I 
would gather from the consideration of this subject, is 
most strongly inculcated by humility. On the leading 
and essential points of our faith, there is but little differ- 
ence, among those classes of Christians who acknowledge 
the attributes of the Saviour, and depend on his media- 
tion. But heresies have polluted every church, and 
schisms are the fruits of disputation. In order to arrest 
these dangers, and to insure the union of his followers, it 
would seem that Christ had established his visible church, 
and delegated the ministry. Wise and holy men, the 
fathers of our religion, have expended their labors in 
clearing what was revealed from the obscurities of lan- 
guage, and the results of their experience and researches 
have been embodied in the form of evangelical discipline. 
That this discipline must be salutary, is evident from the 
view of the weakness of human nature that we have 
already taken; and that it may be profitable to us, and 
all who listen to its precepts and its liturgy, may God, 
in his infinite wisdom, grant. And now to,” etc. 

With this ingenious reference to his own forms and 
ministry, Mr. Grant concluded the discourse. The most 
profound attention had been paid to the sermon during 
the whole of its delivery, although the prayers had not 
been received with so perfect a demonstration of respect. 
This was by no means an intended slight of that lit- 
urgy to which the divine alluded, hut was the habit of a 
people, who owed their very existence, as a distinct na- 
tion, to the doctrinal character of their ancestors. Sundry 
looks of private dissatisfaction were exchanged between 
Hiram and one or two of the leading members of the 
conference , but the feeling went no further at that time; 
and the congregation, after receiving the blessing of Mr. 
Grant, dispersed in silence, and with great decorum. 


128 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XII. 

Tour creeds and dogmas of a learned church 
May build a fabric, fair with moral beauty ; 

But it would seem, that the strong hand of God 
Can, only, ’rase the devil from the heart. 

Duo. 


While the congregation was separating, Mr. Grant 
approached the place where Elizabeth and her father were 
seated, leading the youthful female whom we have men- 
tioned in the preceding chapter, and presented her as his 
daughter. Her reception was as cordial and frank as the 
manners of the country and the value of good society 
could render it, the two young women feeling, instantly, 
that they were necessary to the comfort of each other. 
The Judge, to whom the clergyman’s daughter was also 
a stranger, was pleased to find one who, from habits, sex, 
and years, could probably contribute largely to the plea- 
sures of his own child, during her first privations on her 
removal from the associations of a city to the solitude 
of Templeton; while Elizabeth, who had been forcibly 
struck with the sweetness and devotion of the youthful 
suppliant, removed the slight embarrassment of the timid 
stranger by the ease of her own manners. They were at 
once acquainted; and, during the ten minutes that the 
“ academy ” was clearing, engagements were made between 
the young people, not only for the succeeding day, but 
they would probably have embraced in their arrangements 
half of the winter, had not the divine interrupted them 
by saying : — - 

“Gently, gently, my dear Miss Temple, or you will 
make my girl too dissipated. You forget that she is my 
housekeeper, and that my domestic affairs must remain 
unattended to, should Louisa accept of half the kind offers 
you are so good as to make her.” 

“ And why should they not be neglected entirely, sir ? ” 
interrupted Elizabeth. “There are but two of you; and 
certain I am that my father’s house will not only contain 


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129 


you both, but will open its doors spontaneously, to re- 
ceive such guests. Society is a good not to be rejected, 
on account of cold forms, in this wilderness, sir; and I 
have often heard my father say that hospitality is not a 
virtue in a new country, the favor being conferred by the 
guest. ” 

“The manner in which Judge Temple exercises its rites 
would confirm this opinion; but we must not trespass too 
freely. Doubt not that you will see us often, my child 
particularly, during the frequent visits that I shall be 
compelled to make to the distant parts of the country. 
But t6 obtain an influence with such a people, ” he con- 
tinued, glancing his eyes towards the few who were still 
lingering, curious observers of the interview, “a clergy- 
man must not awaken envy or distrust, by dwelling under 
so splendid a roof as that of Judge Temple.” 

“You like the roof, then, Mr. Grant,” cried Kichard, 
who had been directing the extinguishment of the fires 
and other little necessary duties, and who approached in 
time to hear the close of the divine’s speech: “I am glad 
to find one man of taste at last. Here ’s ’Duke, now, 
pretends to call it by every abusive name he can invent; 
but though ’Duke is a very tolerable judge, he is a very 
poor carpenter, let me tell him. Well, sir, well, I think 
we may say, without boasting, that the service was as 
well performed this evening as you often see; I think, 
quite as well as I ever knew it to be done in old Trinity, 
— that is, if we except the organ. But there is the 
schoolmaster leads the psalm with a very good air. I 
used to lead myself, but latterly I have sung nothing but 
bass. There is a good deal of science to be shown in the 
bass, and it affords a fine opportunity to show off a full, 
deep voice. Benjamin, too, sings a good bass, though 
he is often out in the words. Did you ever hear Benja- 
min sing the ‘ Bay of Biscay, O’?” 

“I believe he gave us part of it this evening,” said 
Marmaduke, laughing. “There was now and then a fear- 
ful quaver in his voice, and it seems that Mr. Penguil- 
lian is like most others who do one thing particularly 


130 


THE PIONEERS 


well; he knows nothing else. He has, certainly, a won- 
derful partiality to one tune, and he has a prodigious self- 
confidence in that one, for he delivers himself like a north- 
wester sweeping across the lake. But come, gentlemen, 
our way is clear, and the sleigh waits. Good evening, 
Mr. Grant. Good-night, young lady ; remember that you 
dine beneath the Corinthian roof to-morrow, with Eliza- 
beth. ” 

The party separated, Kichard holding a close disserta- 
tion with Mr. Le Quoi, as they descended the stairs, on 
the subject of psalmody, which he closed by a violent 
eulogium on the air of the “Bay of Biscay, O,” as particu- 
larly connected with his friend Benjamin’s execution. 

During the preceding dialogue, Mohegan retained his 
seat, with his head shrouded in his blanket, as seemingly 
inattentive to surrounding objects as the departing con- 
gregation was, itself, to the presence of the aged chief. 
Natty, also, continued on the log where he had first 
placed himself, with his head resting on one of his hands, 
while the other held the rifle, which was thrown carelessly 
across his lap. His countenance expressed uneasiness, 
and the occasional unquiet glances that he had thrown 
around him during the service plainly indicated some un- 
usual causes for unhappiness. His continuing seated was, 
however, out of respect to the Indian chief, to whom he 
paid the utmost deference on all occasions, although it 
was mingled with the rough manner of a hunter. 

The young companion of these two ancient inhabitants 
of the forest remained also, standing before the extin- 
guished brands, probably from an unwillingness to depart 
without his comrades. The room was now deserted by 
all but this group, the divine, and his daughter. As the 
party from the mansion-house disappeared, John arose, 
and dropping his blanket from his head, he shook back 
the mass of black hair from his face, and approaching Mr. 
Grant, he extended his hand, and said solemnly : — 

“Father, I thank you. The words that have been 
said since the rising moon have gone upward, and the 
Great Spirit is glad. What you have told your children, 


THE PIONEERS 


131 


they will remember, and be good.” He paused a mo- 
ment, and then, elevating himself with the grandeur of 
an Indian chief, he added, “If Chingachgook lives to 
travel towards the setting sun, after his tribe, and the 
Great Spirit carries him over the lakes and mountains 
with the breath in his body, he will tell his people the 
good talk he has heard; and they will believe him; for 
who can say that Mohegan has ever lied ? ” 

“Let him place his dependence on the goodness of 
divine mercy,” said Mr. Grant, to whom the proud con- 
sciousness of the Indian sounded a little heterodox, “and 
it never will desert him. When the heart is filled with 
love to God, there is no room for sin. But, young man, 
to you I owe not only an obligation, in common with 
those you saved this evening on the mountain, but my 
thanks for your respectful and pious manner in assisting 
in the service at a most embarrassing moment. I should 
be happy to see you sometimes at my dwelling, when, 
perhaps, my conversation may strengthen you in the path 
which you appear to have chosen. It is so unusual to 
find one of your age and appearance, in these woods, at 
all acquainted with our holy liturgy, that it lessens at 
once the distance between us, and I feel that we are no 
longer strangers. You seem quite at home in the service: 
I did not perceive that you had even a book, although 
good Mr. Jones had laid several in different parts of the 
room.” 

“It would be strange if I were ignorant of the service 
of our Church, sir,” returned the youth modestly; “for 
I was baptized in its communion, and I have never yet 
attended public worship elsewhere. For me to use the 
forms of any other denomination would be as singular as 
our own have proved to the people here this evening.” 

“You give me great pleasure, my dear sir,” cried the 
divine, seizing the other by the hand, and shaking it 
cordially. “ You will go home with me now — indeed 
you must — my child has yet to thank you for saving my 
life. I will listen to no apologies. This worthy Indian, 
and your friend there, will accompany us. Bless me ! to 


132 


THE PIONEEKS 


think that he has arrived at manhood in this country, 
without entering a dissenting 1 meeting-house ! ” 

“No, no,” interrupted the Leather- Stocking, “I must 
away to the wigwam; there’s work there that mustn’t 
be forgotten for all your churchings and merry-makings. 
Let the lad go with you in welcome; he is used to keep- 
ing company with ministers, and talking of such matters; 
so is old John, who was Christianized by the Moravians 
about the time of the old war. But I am a plain, un- 
l’amed man, that has sarved both the king and his coun- 
try in his day agin the French and savages, but never so 
much as looked into a book, or l’arnt a letter of scholar- 
ship, in my born days. I ’ve never seen the use of such 
indoor work, though I have lived to be partly bald, and 
in my time have killed two hundred beaver in a season, 
and that without counting the other game. If you mis- 
trust what I am telling you, you can ask Chingacbgook 
there — for I did it in the heart of the Delaware country, 
and the old man is knowing to the truth of every word 
I say.” 

“I doubt not, my friend, that you have been both a 
valiant soldier and skillful hunter in your day,” said the 
divine; “but more is wanting to prepare you for that end 
which approaches. You may have heard the maxim, that 
‘ Young men may die, but that old men must. ’ ” 

“I ’m sure I never was so great a fool as to expect to 
live forever,” said 'Natty, giving one of his silent laughs; 
“no man need do that, who trails the savages through 
the woods, as I have done, and lives, for the hot months, 
on the lake streams. I ’ve a strong constitution, I must 
say that for myself, as is plain to be seen; for I ’ve drunk 
the Onondaga water a hundred times, while I ’ve been 
watching the deer-licks, when the fever-an-agy seeds was 

1 The divines of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States 
commonly call other denominations dissenters , though there never was an 
established church in their own country. [Cooper wrote this at the time 
when the church which he himself loved, and in which later he became a 
communicant, was still very much under the influence of the Church of 
England. Such a statement now would be hard to justify]. 


THE PIONEERS 


133 


to be seen in it as plain and as plenty as you can see the 
rattlesnakes on old Crumhorn. But then, I never expected 
to hold out forever; though there ! s them living who have 
seen the Jarman Flats a wilderness; aye! — and them 
that’s 1’arned, and acquainted with religion, too; though 
you might look a week, now, and not find even the stump 
of a pine on them; and that’s a wood that lasts in the 
ground the better part of a hundred years after the tree 
is dead.” 

“This is but time, my good friend,” returned Mr. 
Grant, who began to take an interest in the welfare of 
his new acquaintance, “but I would have you prepare 
for eternity. It is incumbent on you to attend places of 
public worship, as I am pleased to see that you have done 
this evening. Would it not be heedless in you to start 
on a day’s toil of hard hunting, and leave your ramrod 
and flint behind 1 ” 

“It must be a young hand in the woods,” interrupted 
Hatty, with another laugh, “that didn’t know how to 
dress a rod out of an ash sapling, or find a fire-stone 1 in 
the mountains. No, no, I never expected to live forever; 
but I see times be altering in these mountains from what 
they was thirty years ago, or, for that matter, ten years. 
But might makes right, and the law is stronger than an 
old man, whether he is one that has much l’arning, or 
only one like me, that is better now at standing at the 
passes than in following the hounds, as I once used to 
could. Heigh-ho ! I never knowed preaching come into 
a settlement but it made game scarce, and raised the price 
of gunpowder; and that’s a thing that’s not as easily 
made as a ramrod or an Indian flint.” 

The divine, perceiving that he had given his opponent 
an argument by his own unfortunate selection of a com- 
parison, very prudently relinquished the controversy ; al- 
though he was fully determined to resume it at a more 
happy moment. Repeating his request to the young 
hunter, with great earnestness, the youth and Indian 
consented to accompany him and his daughter to the 
1 [A piece of flint or pyrites used for striking fire.] __ 


134 


THE PIONEERS 


dwelling that the care of Mr. Jones had provided for 
their temporary residence. Leather- Stocking persevered 
in his intention of returning to the hut, and at the door 
of the building they separated. 

After following the course of one of the streets of the 
village a short distance, Mr. Grant, who led the way, 
turned into a field through a pair of open bars, and en- 
tered a footpath, of but sufficient width to admit one per- 
son to walk in it at a time. The moon had gained a 
height that enabled her to throw her rays perpendicu- 
larly on the valley ; and the distinct shadows of the party 
flitted along on the banks of the silver snow, like the 
presence of aerial figures, gliding to their appointed place 
of meeting. The night still continued intensely cold, 
although not a breath of wind was felt. The path was 
beaten so hard, that the gentle female who made one of 
the party moved with ease along its windings; though 
the frost emitted a low creaking at the impression of even 
her light footsteps. 

The clergyman, in his dark dress of broadcloth, with 
his mild, benevolent countenance occasionally turned to- 
wards his companions, expressing that look of subdued 
care which was its characteristic, presented the first object 
in this singular group. Next to him moved the Indian, 
his hair falling about his face, his head uncovered, and 
the rest of his form concealed beneath his blanket. As 
his swarthy visage, with its muscles fixed in rigid compo- 
sure, was seen under the light of the moon, which struck 
his face obliquely, he seemed a picture of resigned old 
age on whom the storms of winter had beaten in vain 
for the greater part of a century, — but when, in turn- 
ing his head, the rays fell directly upon his dark, fiery 
eyes, they told a tale of passions unrestrained, and of 
thoughts free as air. The slight person of Miss Grant, 
which followed next, and which was but too thinly clad 
for the severity of the season, formed a marked contrast 
to the wild attire and uneasy glances of the Delaware 
chief ; and more than once during their walk, the young 
hunter, himself no insignificant figure in the group, was 


THE PIONEERS 


135 


led to consider the difference in the human form — as 
the face of Mohegan, and the gentle countenance of Miss 
Grant, with eyes that rivaled the soft hue of the sky, 
met his view at the instant that each turned to throw 
a glance at the splendid orb which lighted their path. 
Their way, which led through fields that lay at some 
distance in the rear of the houses, was cheered by a con- 
versation that flagged or became animated with the sub- 
ject. The first to speak was the divine. 

“Really,” he said, “it is so singular a circumstance to 
meet with one of your age, that has not been induced by 
idle curiosity to visit any other church than the one in 
which he has been educated, that I feel a strong curiosity 
to know the history of a life so fortunately regulated. 
Your education must have been excellent; as indeed is 
evident from your manners and language. Of which of 
the States are you a native, Mr. Edwards? for such, I 
believe, was the name that you gave Judge Temple.” 

“Of this.” 

“Of this! I was at a loss to conjecture, from your 
dialect, which does not partake, particularly, of the pe- 
culiarities of any country with which I am acquainted. 
You have, then, resided much in the cities, for no other 
part of this country is so fortunate as to possess the con- 
stant enjoyment of our excellent liturgy.” 

The young hunter smiled, as he listened to the divine 
while he so clearly betrayed from what part of the country 
he had come himself ; but for reasons probably connected 
with his present situation, he made no answer. 

“I am delighted to meet with you, my young friend, 
for I think an ingenuous mind, such as I doubt not yours 
must be, will exhibit all the advantages of a settled doc- 
trine and devout liturgy. You perceive how I was com- 
pelled to bend to the humors of my hearers this evening. 
Good Mr. Jones wished me to read the communion, and, in 
fact, all the morning service; but, happily, the canons do 
not require this of an evening. It would have wearied a 
new congregation : but to-morrow I purpose administering 
the sacrament. Do you commune, my young friend ? ” 


136 


THE PIONEERS 


“I believe not, sir,” returned tlie youth, with a little 
embarrassment, that was not at all diminished by Miss 
Grant’s pausing involuntarily, and turning her eyes on 
him in surprise, “I fear that I am not qualified; I have 
never yet approached the altar ; neither would I wish to 
do it, while I find so much of the world clinging to my 
heart. ” 

“Each must judge for himself,” said Mr. Grant; 
“ though I should think that a youth who had never been 
blown about by the wind of false doctrines, and who has 
enjoyed the advantages of our liturgy for so many years 
in its purity, might safely come. Yet, sir, it is a solemn 
festival, which none should celebrate until there is reason 
to hope it is not mockery. I observed this evening, in 
your manner to Judge Temple, a resentment that bor- 
dered on one of the worst of human passions. We will 
cross this brook on the ice: it must bear us all, I think, 
in safety. Be careful not to slip, my child.” While 
speaking, he descended a little bank by the path, and 
crossed one of the small streams that poured their waters 
into the lake; and, turning to see his daughter pass, 
observed that the youth had advanced, and was kindly 
directing her footsteps. When all were safely over, he 
moved up the opposite bank, and continued his discourse. 
“It was wrong, my dear sir, very wrong, to suffer such 
feelings to rise, under any circumstances, and especially 
in the present, where the evil was not intended.” 

“There is good in the talk of my father,” said Mo- 
hegan, stopping short, and causing those who were behind 
him to pause also; “it is the talk of Miquon. The white 
man may do as his fathers have told him; but the Young 
Eagle has the blood of a Delaware chief in his veins: it 
is red, and the stain it makes can only be washed out 
with the blood of a Mingo.” 

Mr. Grant was surprised by the interruption of the In- 
dian, and, stopping, faced the speaker. His mild features 
were confronted to the fierce and determined looks of the 
chief, and expressed the horror he felt at hearing such 
sentiments from one who professed the religion of his 


THE PIONEERS 


137 


Saviour. Eaising his hands to a level with his head, he 
exclaimed : — 

“John, John! is this the religion that you have learned 
from the Moravians ? But no — I will not be so unchari- 
table as to suppose it. They are a pious, a gentle, and 
a mild people, and could never tolerate these passions. 
Listen to the language of the Redeemer : ‘ But I say unto 
you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do 
good to them that hate you; pray for them that despite- 
fully use you and persecute you. ’ This is the command of 
God, John, and without striving to cultivate such feelings, 
no man can see Him.” 

The Indian heard the divine with attention; the un- 
usual fire of his eye gradually softened, and his muscles 
relaxed into their ordinary composure; hut, slightly shak- 
ing his head, he motioned with dignity for Mr. Grant to 
resume his walk, and followed himself in silence. The 
agitation of the divine caused him to move with unusual 
rapidity along the deep path, and the Indian, without 
any apparent exertion, kept an equal pace ; but the young 
hunter observed the female to linger in her steps, until 
a trifling distance intervened between the two former and 
the latter. Struck by the circumstance, and not perceiv- 
ing any new impediment to retard her footsteps, the youth 
made a tender of his assistance. 

“You are fatigued, Miss Grant,” he said; “the snow 
yields to the foot, and you are unequal to the strides of 
us men. Step on the crust, I entreat you, and take the 
help of my arm. Yonder light is, I believe, the house 
of your father; but it seems yet at some distance.” 

“I am quite equal to the walk,” returned a low, tremu- 
lous voice; “but I am startled by the manner of that 
Indian. Oh, his eye was horrid, as he turned to the 
moon, in speaking to my father. But I forget, sir; he 
is your friend, and by his language may be your relative; 
and yet of you I do not feel afraid.” 

The young man stepped on the bank of snow, which 
firmly sustained his weight, and by a gentle effort induced 
his companion to follow. Drawing her arm through his 


138 


THE PIONEERS 


own, he lifted his cap from his head, allowing the dark 
locks to flow in rich curls over his open brow, and walked 
by her side with an air of conscious pride, as if inviting 
an examination of his inmost thoughts. Louisa took but 
a furtive glance at his person, and moved quietly along, 
at a rate that was greatly quickened by the aid of his 
arm. 

“You are but little acquainted with this peculiar peo- 
ple, Miss Grant, ” he said, “or you w r ould know that 
revenge is a virtue with an Indian. They are taught, 
from infancy upwards, to believe it a duty never to allow 
an injury to pass unrevenged, — and nothing hut the 
stronger claims of hospitality can guard one against their 
resentments, where they have power. ” 

“Surely, sir,” said Miss Grant, involuntarily with- 
drawing her arm from his, “you have not been educated 
with such unholy sentiments.” 

“It might be a sufficient answer to your excellent 
father to say that I was educated in the Church,” he 
returned, “but to you I will add, that I have been taught 
deep and practical lessons of forgiveness. I believe that, 
on this subject, I have but little cause to reproach myself; 
it shall be my endeavor that there yet be less.” 

While speaking, he stopped, and stood with his arm 
again proffered to her assistance. As he ended, she qui- 
etly accepted his offer, and they resumed their walk. 

Mr. Grant and Mohegan had reached the door of the 
former’s residence, and stood waiting near its threshold 
for the arrival of their young companions. The former 
was earnestly occupied in endeavoring to correct, by his 
precepts, the evil propensities that he had discovered in 
the Indian during their conversation ; to which the latter 
listened in profound but respectful attention. On the 
arrival of the young hunter and the lady, they entered 
the building. The house stood at some distance from 
the village, in the centre of a field, surrounded by stumps 
that were peering above the snow, bearing caps of pure 
white, nearly two feet in thickness. Not a tree nor a 
shrub was nigh it; but the house externally exhibited 


THE PIONEERS 


139 


that cheerless, unfinished aspect which is so common to 
the hastily erected dwellings of a new country. The un- 
inviting character of its outside was, however, happily 
relieved by the exquisite neatness and comfortable warmth 
within. 

They entered an apartment that was fitted as a parlor, 
though the large fireplace, with its culinary arrangements, 
betrayed the domestic uses to which it was occasionally 
applied. The bright blaze from the hearth rendered the 
light that proceeded from the candle Louisa produced, 
unnecessary ; for the scanty furniture of the room was 
easily seen and examined by the former. The floor was 
covered in the centre by a carpet made of rags, a species 
of manufacture that was then, and yet continues to be, 
much in use in the interior; while its edges, that were 
exposed to view, were of unspotted cleanliness. There 
was a trifling air of better life in a tea-table and work- 
stand, as well as in an old-fashioned mahogany bookcase; 
but the chairs, the dining-table, and the rest of the fur- 
niture, were of the plainest and cheapest construction. 
Against the walls were hung a few specimens of needle- 
work and drawing, the former executed with great neat- 
ness, though of somewhat equivocal merit in their de- 
signs, while the latter were strikingly deficient in both. 

One of the former represented a tomb, with a youthful 
female weeping over it, exhibiting a church with arched 
windows in the background. On the tomb were the 
names, with the dates of the births and deaths of several 
individuals, all of whom bore the name of Grant. An 
extremely cursory glance at this record was sufficient to 
discover to the young hunter the domestic state of the 
divine. He there read that he was a widower; and that 
the innocent and timid maiden who had been his com- 
panion was the only survivor of six children. The know- 
ledge of the dependence which each of these meek Chris- 
tians had on the other, for happiness, threw an additional 
charm around the gentle but kind attentions which the 
daughter paid to the father. 

These observations occurred while the party were seat- 


140 


THE PIONEERS 


ing themselves before the cheerful fire, during which time 
there was a suspension of discourse. But when each was 
comfortably arranged, and Louisa, after laying aside a 
thin coat of faded silk, and a gypsy hat, that was more 
becoming to her modest, ingenuous countenance than 
appropriate to the season, had taken a chair between her 
father and the youth, the former resumed the conversa- 
tion. 

“I trust, my young friend,” he said, ''‘that the edu- 
cation you have received has eradicated most of those 
revengeful principles which you may have inherited by 
descent, for I understand from the expressions of John, 
that you have some of the blood of the Delaware tribe. 
Do not mistake me, I beg, for it is not color, nor lineage, 
that constitutes merit ; and I know not that he who claims 
affinity to the proper owners of this soil has not the best 
right to tread these hills with the lightest conscience.” 

Mohegan turned solemnly to the speaker, and, with the 
peculiarly significant gestures of an Indian, he spoke : — 

“Father, you are not yet past the summer of life; your 
limbs are young. Go to the highest hill, and look around 
you. All that you see, from the rising to the setting 
sun, from the head waters of the great spring, to where 
the Crooked River 1 is hid by the hills, is his. He has 
Delaware blood, and his right is strong. But the brother 
of Miquon is just; he will cut the country in two parts, 
as the river cuts the lowlands, and will say to the Young 
Eagle, Child of the Delawares ! take it — keep it — and 
be a chief in the land of your fathers.” 

“ Never ! ” exclaimed the young hunter, with a vehe- 
mence that destroyed the rapt attention with which the 
divine and his daughter were listening to the Indian. 
“ The wolf of the forest is not more rapacious for his prey, 
than that man is greedy of gold ; and yet his glidings into 
wealth are subtle as the movements of a serpent.” 

“Forbear, forbear, my son, forbear,” interrupted Mr. 

1 The Susquehanna means “crooked river;” “hannah,” or “ban- 
nock,” meant “river,” in many of the native dialects. Thus we find 
Rappahannock as far south as Virginia. 


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141 


Grant. “ These angry passions must be subdued. The 
accidental injury you have received from Judge Temple 
has heightened the sense of your hereditary wrongs. But 
remember that the one was unintentional, and that the 
other is the effect of political changes, which have, in 
their course, greatly lowered the pride of kings, and swept 
mighty nations from the face of the earth. Where now 
are the Philistines, who so often held the children of 
Israel in bondage ? or that city of Babylon, which rioted 
in luxury and vice, and who styled herself the Queen of 
Nations in the drunkenness of her pride ? Remember the 
prayer of our holy litany where we implore the Divine 
Power — ‘ that it may please Thee to forgive our enemies, 
persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts. ’ 
The sin of the wrongs which have been done to the 
natives is shared by Judge Temple only in common with 
a whole people, and your arm will speedily be restored to 
its strength.’’ 

“ This arm ! ” repeated the youth, pacing the floor in 
violent agitation. “Think you, sir, that I believe the 
man a murderer? Oh, no! he is too wily, too cowardly 
for such a crime. But let him and his daughter riot in 
their wealth; a day of retribution will come. No, no, 
no,” he continued, as he trod the floor more calmly, “it 
is for Mohegan to suspect him of an intent to injure me: 
but the trifle is not worth a second thought.” 

He seated himself, and hid his face between his hands, 
as they rested on his knees. 

“It is the hereditary violence of a native’s passion, my 
child,” said Mr. Grant in a low tone, to his affrighted 
daughter, who was clinging in terror to his arm. “He is 
mixed with the blood of the Indians, you have heard; 
and neither the refinements of education, nor the advan- 
tages of our excellent liturgy, have been able entirely to 
eradicate the evil. But care and time will do much for 
him yet;” 

Although the divine spoke in a low tone, yet what he 
uttered was heard by the youth, who raised his head, with 
a smile of indefinite expression, and spoke more calmly. 


142 


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“Be not alarmed, Miss Grant, at either the wildness 
of my manner or that of my dress. I have been carried 
away by passions that I should struggle to repress. I 
must attribute it, with your father, to the blood in my 
veins, although I vrould not impeach my lineage will- 
ingly ; for it is all that is left me to boast of. Yes! I 
am proud of my descent from a Delaware chief, who was 
a warrior that ennobled human nature. Old Mohegan 
was his friend, and will vouch for his virtues. ” 

Mr. Grant here took up the discourse, and, finding the 
young man more calm, and the aged chief attentive, he 
entered into a full and theological discussion of the duty 
of forgiveness. The conversation lasted for more than 
an hour, when the visitors arose, and, after exchanging 
good wishes with their entertainers, they departed. At 
the door they separated, Mohegan taking the direct route 
to the village, while the youth moved towards the lake. 
The divine stood at the entrance of his dwelling, regard- 
ing the figure of the aged chief as it glided, at an aston- 
ishing gait for his years, along the deep path ; his black, 
straight hair just visible over the bundle formed by his 
blanket, which was sometimes blended with the snow, 
under the silvery light of the moon. From the rear of 
the house was a window that overlooked the lake; and 
here Louisa was found by her father, when he entered, 
gazing intently on some object in the direction of the 
eastern mountain. He approached the spot, and saw the 
figure of the young hunter, at the distance of half a mile, 
walking with prodigious steps across the wide fields of 
frozen snow that covered the ice, towards the point where 
he knew the hut inhabited by the Leather-Stocking was 
situated on the margin of the lake, under a rock that was 
crowned by pines and hemlocks. At the next instant, 
the wildly looking form entered the shadow cast from the 
overhanging trees and was lost to view. 

“It is marvelous how long the propensities of the sav- 
age continue in that remarkable race,” said the good 
divine; “but if he persevere as he has commenced, his 
triumph shall yet be complete. Put me in mind, Louisa, 


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143 


to lend him the homily ‘ Against Peril of Idolatry, ’ at 
his next visit.” 

“Surely, father, you do not think him in danger of 
relapsing into the worship of his ancestors ! ” 

“No, my child,” returned the clergyman, laying his 
hand affectionately on her flaxen locks, and smiling; “his 
white blood would prevent it; but there is such a thing 
as the idolatry of our passions.” 


CHAPTER XIII. 

And I ’ll drink out of the quart pot, — 

Here ’s a health to the barley mow. 

Drinking Song. 

On one of the corners where the two principal streets 
of Templeton intersected each other, stood, as we have 
already mentioned, the inn called the “Bold Dragoon.” 
In the original plan , 1 it was ordained that the village 
should stretch along the little stream that rushed down 
the valley; and the street which led from the lake to the 
academy was intended to he its western boundary. But 
convenience frequently frustrates the best regulated plans. 
The house of Mr., or as in consequence of commanding 
the militia of that vicinity he was called, Captain, Hol- 
lister, had, at an early day, been erected directly facing 
the main street, and ostensibly interposed a harrier to its 
further progress. Horsemen, and subsequently teamsters, 
however, availed themselves of an opening, at the end of 
the building, to shorten their passage westward, until, in 
time, the regular highway was laid out along this course, 
and houses were gradually built on either side, so as effec- 
tually to prevent any subsequent correction of the evil. 

Two material consequences followed this change in the 
regular plans of Marmaduke. The main street, after run- 
ning about half its length, was suddenly reduced to pre- 
cisely that difference in its width; and the “Bold Dra- 
l See Appendix, Note C. 


144 


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goon ” became, next to the mansion - house, by far the 
most conspicuous edifice in the place. 

This conspicuousness, aided by the characters of the 
host and hostess, gave the tavern an advantage over all 
its future competitors that no circumstances could con- 
quer. An effort was, however, made to do so; and at the 
corner diagonally opposite stood a new building that was 
intended, by its occupants, to look down all opposition. 
It was a house of wood, ornamented in the prevailing 
style of architecture — and, about the roof and balus- 
trades, was one of the three imitators of the mansion- 
house. The upper windows were filled with rough boards 
secured by nails, to keep out the cold air; for the edifice 
was far from finished, although glass was to be seen in 
the lower apartments, and the light of the powerful fires 
within denoted that it was already inhabited. The exte- 
rior was painted white on the front, and on the end which 
was exposed to the street; but in the rear, and on the 
side which was intended to join the neighboring house, 
it was coarsely smeared with Spanish brown. Before the 
door stood two lofty posts, connected at the top by a 
beam, from which was suspended an enormous sign, orna- 
mented around its edges with certain curious carvings in 
pine boards, and on its faces loaded with masonic em- 
blems. Over these mysterious figures was written, in 
large letters, “The Templeton Coffee-House, and Trav- 
elers’ Hotel,” and beneath them, “By Habakkuk Foote 
and Joshua Knapp.” This was a fearful rival to the 
“Bold Dragoon,” as our readers will the more readily 
perceive, when we add that the same sonorous names 
were to be seen over the door of a newly erected store in 
the village, a hatter’s shop, and the gates of a tan-yard. 
But, either because too much was attempted to be ex- 
ecuted well, or that the “ Bold Dragoon ” had established 
a reputation which could not be easily shaken, not only 
Judge Temple and his friends, but most of the villagers 
also, who were not in debt to the powerful firm we have 
named, frequented the inn of Captain Hollister, on all 
occasions where such a house was necessary. 


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145 


On the present evening the limping veteran and his 
consort were hardly housed after their return from the 
academy, when the sounds of stamping feet at their 
threshold announced the approach of visitors, who were 
probably assembling with a view to compare opinions on 
the subject of the ceremonies they had witnessed. 

The public, or as it was called, the “ bar-room,” of the 
“ Bold Dragoon, ” was a spacious apartment, lined on three 
sides with benches, and on the fourth by fireplaces. Of 
the latter there were two of such size as to occupy, with 
their enormous jambs, the whole of that side of the apart- 
ment where they were placed, excepting room enough for 
a door or two, and a little apartment in one corner, which 
was protected by miniature palisadoes, and profusely gar- 
nished with bottles and glasses. In the entrance to this 
sanctuary, Mrs. Hollister was seated, with great gravity in 
her air, while her husband occupied himself with stirring 
the fires; moving the logs with a large stake burnt to a 
point at one end. 

“There, sargeant, dear,” said the landlady, after she 
thought the veteran had got the logs arranged in the most 
judicious manner, “give over poking, for it ’s no good 
ye ’ll be doing, now that they burn so convaniently. 
There ’s the glasses on the table there, and the mug that 
the Doctor was taking his cider and ginger in, before the 
fire here — just put them in the bar, will ye? for we’ll 
be having the Jooge, and the Major, and Mr. Jones down 
the night, without reckoning Benjamin Poomp, and the 
lawyers; so ye’ll be fixing the room tidy; and put both 
flip-irons in the coals ; and tell Jude, the lazy black baste, 
that if she ’s no be claneing up the kitchen I ’ll turn her 
out of the house, and she may live wid the jontlemen that 
kape the * Coffee-House, ’ good luck to ’em. Och! sar- 
geant, sure it ’s a great privilege to go to a mateing where 
a body can sit asy, widout joomping up and down so often, 
as this Mr. Grant is doing that same.” 

“ It ’s a privilege at all times, Mrs. Hollister, whether 
we stand or be seated ; or, as good Mr. Whitefield 1 used 
1 [George Whitefield, the great Evangelical preacher, died about thirteen 


146 


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to do after he had made a wearisome day’s march, get on 
our knees and pray, like Moses of old, with a flanker to 
the right and left, to lift his hands to heaven,” returned 
her husband, who composedly performed what she had 
directed to be done. “It was a very pretty fight, Betty, 
# that the Israelites had on that day with the Amalekites . 1 It 
seems that they fou’t on a plain, for Moses is mentioned 
as having gone on to the heights to overlook the battle, 
and wrestle in prayer; and if I should judge, w T ith my little 
Taming, the Israelites depended mainly on their horse, for 
it is written that Joshua cut up the enemy with the edge 
of the sword, from which I infer not only that they were 
horse, but well disciplyned troops. Indeed, it says as 
much as that they were chosen men; quite likely volun- 
teers ; for raw dragoons seldom strike with the edge of their 
swords, particularly if the weapon he any way crooked.” 

“Pshaw! why do ye bother yourself wid taxts, man, 
about so small a matter,” interrupted the landlady; “sure, 
it was the Lord who was with ’em; for He always sided 
wid the Jews, before they fell away; and it’s hut little 
matter what kind of men Joshua commanded, so that he 
was doing the right bidding. Aven them cursed millaishy 
— the Lord forgive me for swearing — that was the death 
of him, wid their cowardice, would have carried the day 
in old times. There ’s no r’ason to be thinking that the 
soldiers were used to the drill.” 

“I must say, Mrs. Hollister, that I have not often seen 
raw troops fight better than the left flank of the militia, 
at the time you mention. They rallied handsomely, and 
that without beat of drum, which is no easy thing to do 
under fire, and were very steady till he fell. But the 
Scriptures contain no unnecessary words ; and I will main- 
tain that horse, who know how to strike with the edge 
of the sword, must he well disciplyned. Many a good 

years before the events of this story, and his ministrations among New 
York and New England people would be very vividly recalled. White- 
field indeed did much to encourage the movement of the militia against 
Louisbourg.] 

1 [See Exodus xvii.] 


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147 


sarmon has been preached about smaller matters than that 
one word! If the text was not meant to he particu- 
lar, why wasn’t it written with the sword, and not with 
the edge ? Now, a hack-handed stroke, on the edge, takes 
long practice. Goodness! what an argument would Mr. 
Whitefield make of that word edge ! As to the captain, 
if he had called up the guard of dragoons when he rallied 
the foot, they would have shown the inimy what the 
edge of a sword was; for, although there was no com- 
missioned officer with them, yet I think I may say,” the 
veteran continued, stiffening his cravat about the throat, 
and raising himself up, with the air of a drill sergeant, 
“they were led by a man who knowed how to bring them 
on, in spite of the ravine.” 

“Is it lade on ye would,” cried the landlady, “when 
ye know yourself, Mr. Hollister, that the baste he rode 
was but little able to joomp from one rock to another, and 
the animal was as spry as a squirrel? Och! hut it ’s use- 
less to talk, for he ’s gone this many a year. I would 
that he had lived to see the true light; hut there ’s mercy 
for a brave sowl that died in the saddle, fighting for the 
liberty. It is a poor tombstone they have given him, any 
way, and many a good one that died like himself; hut 
the sign is very like, and I will be kapeing it up, while 
the blacksmith can make a hook for it to swing on, for 
all the * coffee-houses ’ betwane this and Albany. ” 

There is no saying where this desultory conversation 
would have led the worthy couple, had not the men, who 
were stamping the snow off their feet, on the little plat- 
form before the door, suddenly ceased their occupation, 
and entered the barroom. 

For ten or fifteen minutes, the different individuals 
who intended either to bestow or receive edification be- 
fore the fires of the “Bold Dragoon,” on that evening, 
were collecting, until the benches were nearly filled with 
men of different occupations. Dr. Todd and a slovenly- 
looking, shabby-genteel young man, who took tobacco 
profusely, wore a coat of imported cloth, cut with some- 
thing like a fashionable air, frequently exhibited a large 


148 


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French silver watch with a chain of woven hair and a 
silver key, — and who, altogether, seemed as much above 
the artisans around him as he was himself inferior to the 
real gentleman, — occupied a high-back wooden settee in 
the most comfortable corner in the apartment. 

Sundry brown mugs, containing cider or beer, were 
placed between the heavy andirons, and little groups were 
formed among the guests, as subjects arose or the liquor 
was passed from one to the other. No man was seen to 
drink by himself, nor in any instance was more than one 
vessel considered necessary for the same beverage; but 
the glass, or the mug, was passed from hand to hand, 
until the chasm in the line, or a regard to the rights of 
ownership, would regularly restore the dregs of the pota- 
tion to him who defrayed the cost. 

Toasts were uniformly drunk; and, occasionally, some 
one, who conceived himself peculiarly endowed by na- 
ture to shine in the way of wit, would attempt some 
such sentiment as “hoping that he” who treated, “might 
make a better man than his father;” or, “live till all 
his friends wished him dead ; ” while the more humble 
pot-companion contented himself by saying, with a most 
imposing gravity in his air, “Come, here’s luck,” or by 
expressing some other equally comprehensive desire. In 
every instance, the veteran landlord was requested to imi- 
tate the custom of the cupbearers to kings, and taste the 
liquor he presented, by the invitation of “After you is 
manners,” with which request he ordinarily complied, by 
wetting his lips, first expressing the wish of “Here’s 
hoping,” leaving it to the imagination of the hearers to 
fill the vacuum by whatever good each thought most 
desirable. During these movements, the landlady was 
busily occupied with mixing the various compounds re- 
quired by her customers with her own hands, and occa- 
sionally exchanging greetings and inquiries concerning the 
conditions of their respective families with such of the 
villagers as approached the bar. 

At length the common thirst being in some measure 
assuaged, conversation of a more general nature became 


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149 


the order of the hour. The physician, and his compan- 
ion, who was one of the two lawyers of the village, being 
considered the best qualified to maintain a public dis- 
course with credit, were the principal speakers, though a 
remark was hazarded, now and then, by Mr. Doolittle, 
who was thought to be their inferior only in the enviable 
point of education. A general silence was produced on all 
but the two speakers, by the following observation from 
the practitioner of the law : — 

“ So, Dr. Todd, I understand that you have been per- 
forming an important operation, this evening, by cutting 
a charge of buckshot from the shoulder of the son of 
Leather- Stocking ? ” 

“Yes, sir,” returned the other, elevating his little head 
with an air of importance. “I had a small job up at the 
Judge’s in that way; it was, however, but a trifle to what 
it might have been, had it gone through the body. The 
shoulder is not a very vital part ; and I think the young 
man will soon be well. But I did not know that the 
patient was a son of Leather- Stocking: it is news to me 
to hear that Natty had a wife.” 

“It is by no means a necessary consequence,” returned 
the other, winking, with a shrewd look around the bar- 
room; “there is such a thing, I suppose you know, in 
law, as a ‘ filius nullius. ’ ” 

“Spake it out, man,” exclaimed the landlady; “spake 
it out in king’s English; what for should ye be talking 
Indian in a room full of Christian folks, though it is 
about a poor hunter, who is but a little better in his ways 
than the wild savages themselves? Och! it ’s to be hoped 
that the missionaries will, in his own time, make a con- 
varsion of the poor divils; and then it will matter little 
of what color is the skin, or wedder there be wool or hair 
on the head.” 

“Oh, it is Latin, not Indian, Mis’ Hollister,” returned 
the lawyer, repeating his winks and shrewd looks; “and 
Dr. Todd understands Latin, or how would he read the 
labels on his gallipots and drawers ? No, no, Mis’ Hol- 
lister, the Doctor understands me; don't you, Doctor?” 


150 


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“Hem — why, I guess I am not far out of the way,” 
returned Elnathan, endeavoring to imitate the expression 
of the other’s countenance, by looking jocular. “Latin 
is a queer language, gentlemen; now I rather guess there 
is no one in the room except Squire Lippet, who can be- 
lieve that ‘ Far. Av. ’ means oatmeal, in English. ” 

The lawyer in his turn was a good deal embarrassed by 
this display of learning; for, although he actually had 
taken his first degree at one of the eastern universities, he 
was somewhat puzzled with the terms used by his com- 
panion. It was dangerous, however, to appear to be out- 
done in learning in a public barroom, and before so many 
of his clients; he therefore put the best face on the mat- 
ter, and laughed knowingly, as if there were a good joke 
concealed under it, that was understood only by the phy- 
sician and himself. All this was attentively observed by 
the listeners, who exchanged looks of approbation: and 
the expressions of “tonguey man,” and “I guess Squire 
Lippet knows, if anybody doos,” were heard in differ- 
ent parts of the room, as vouchers for the admiration of 
his auditors. Thus encouraged, the lawyer rose from his 
chair, and turning his back to the fire, and facing the com- 
pany, he continued : — 

“The son of Natty, or the son of nobody, I hope the 
young man is not going to let the matter drop. This is 
a country of laws; and I should like to see it fairly tried, 
whether a man who owns, or says he owns, a hundred 
thousand acres of land, has any more right to shoot a body 
than another. What do you think of it, Dr. Todd 1 ” 
“Oh, sir, I am of opinion that the gentleman will soon 
be well, as I said before; the wound isn’t in a vital part; 
and as the ball was extracted so soon, and the shoulder 
was what I call well attended to, I do not think there is 
as much danger as there might have been.”' 

“I say, Squire Doolittle,” continued the attorney, rais- 
ing his voice, “you are a magistrate, and know what is 
law, and what is not law. 1 I ask you, sir, if shooting a 
man is a thing that is to be settled so very easily 1 Sup- 
1 See Appendix, Note D. 


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151 


pose, sir, that the young man had a wife and family, — 
and suppose that he was a mechanic like yourself, sir; and 
suppose that his family depended on him for bread ; and 
suppose that the ball, instead of merely going through the 
flesh, had broken the shoulder-blade, and crippled him 
forever ; I ask you all, gentlemen, supposing this to be the 
case, whether a jury wouldn’t give what I call handsome 
damages ? ” 

As the close of this supposititious case was addressed 
to the company generally, Hiram did not, at first, consider 
himself called on for a reply ; but finding the eyes of the 
listeners bent on him in expectation, he remembered his 
character for judicial discrimination, and spoke, observing 
a due degree of deliberation and dignity. 

“ Why, if a man should shoot another, ” he said, “ and 
if he should do it on purpose, and if the law took notice 
on ’t, and if a jury should find him guilty, it would be 
likely to turn out a State-prison matter.” 

“It would so, sir,” returned the attorney. “The law, 
gentlemen, is no respecter of persons in a free country. 
It is one of the great blessings that has been handed down 
to us from our ancestors, that all men are equal in the 
eye of the law as they are by natur’. Though some may 
get property, no one knows how, yet they are not privi- 
leged to transgress the laws any more than the poorest 
citizen in the State. This is my notion, gentlemen; and 
I think that if a man had a mind to bring this matter up, 
something might be made out of it that would help pay 
for the salve — ha ! Doctor ? ” 

“ Why, sir, ” returned the physician, who appeared a lit- 
tle uneasy at the turn the conversation was taking, “ I have 
the promise of Judge Temple before men — not but what 
I would take his word as soon as his note of hand — but 
it was before men. Let me see — there was Mounshier Ler 
Quow, and Squire Jones, and Major Hartmann, and Miss 
Pettibone, and one or two of the blacks by, when he said 
that his pocket would amply reward me for what I did.” 

“ Was the promise made before or after the service was 
performed 1 ” asked the attorney. 


152 


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“It might have been both,” returned the discreet phy- 
sician; “though I’m certain he said so before I under- 
took the dressing.” 

“ But it seems that he said his pocket should reward 
you, Doctor,” observed Hiram. “Now, I don’t know 
that the law will hold a man to such a promise; he might 
give you his pocket with sixpence in ’t, and tell you to 
take your pay out on’t.” 

“That would not be a reward in the eye of the law,” 
interrupted the attorney, “not what is called a ‘quid pro 
quo; * nor is the pocket to be considered as an agent, but 
as part of a man’s own person, that is, in this particular. 
I am of opinion that an action would lie on that promise, 
and I will undertake to bear him out, free of costs, if he 
don’t recover.” 

To this proposition the physician made no reply ; but was 
observed to cast his eyes around him, as if to "enumerate 
the witnesses, in order to substantiate this promise also, 
at a future day, should it prove necessary. A subject so 
momentous as that of suing Judge Temple was not very 
palatable to the present company in so public a place; and 
a short silence ensued, that was only interrupted by the 
opening of the door, and the entrance of Natty himself. 

The old hunter carried in his hand his never-failing 
companion, the rifle; and although all the company were 
uncovered excepting the lawyer, who wore his hat on one 
side, with a certain damme air, Natty moved to the front 
of one of the fires, without in the least altering any part 
of his dress or appearance. Several questions were ad- 
dressed to him, on the subject of the game he had killed, 
which he answered readily, and with some little interest; 
and the landlord, between whom and Natty there existed 
much cordiality, on account of their both having been 
soldiers in youth, offered him a glass of a liquid, which, 
if we might judge from its reception, was no unwelcome 
guest. When the forester had got his potation also, he 
quietly took his seat on the end of one of the logs that 
lay nigh the fires, and the slight interruption produced by 
his entrance seemed to be forgotten. 


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153 


“The testimony of the blacks could not he taken, sir,” 
continued the lawyer, “for they are all the property of 
Mr. Jones, who owns their time. But there is a way by 
which Judge Temple, or any other man, might be made 
to pay for shooting another, and for the cure in the bar- 
gain. There is a way, I say, and that without going into 
the * court of errors,’ too.” 

“ And a mighty big error ye would make of it, Mister 
Todd,” cried the landlady, “should ye be putting the 
matter into the law at all, with Jooge Temple, who has 
a purse as long as one of them pines on the hill, and who 
is an ’asy man to dale wid, if yees but mind the humor 
of him. He ’s a good man, is Jooge Temple, and a kind 
one, and one who will be no the likelier to do the pratty 
thing beca’se ye would wish to tarrify him wid the law. 
I know of but one obj action to the same, which is an over- 
carelessness about his sowl. It ’s neither a Methodie, nor 
a Papish, nor Prasbetyrian, that he is, but just nothing 
at all; and it ’s hard to think that he, ‘ who will not fight 
the good fight, under the banners of a rig’lar Church, in 
this world, will be mustered among the chosen in heaven, ’ 
as my husband, the Captain there, as ye call him, says — 
— though there is but one captain that I know, who 
desaarves the name. I hopes, L’ather-Stocking, ye ’ll no 
be foolish, and putting the boy up to try the law in the 
matter; for ’twill be an evil day to ye both, when ye first 
turn the skin of so p’aceable an animal as a sheep into a 
bone of contention. The lad is wilcome to his drink for 
nothing, until his shoulther will bear the rifle agin.” 

“Well, that ’s gin’rous,” was heard from several mouths 
at once, for this was a company in which a liberal offer 
was not thrown away; while the hunter, instead of ex- 
pressing any of that indignation which he might be sup- 
posed to feel, at hearing the hurt of his young companion 
alluded to, opened his mouth, with the silent laugh for 
which he was so remarkable; and, after he had indulged 
his humor, made this reply : — 

“I knowed the Judge would do nothing with his 
smooth-bore when he got out of his sleigh. I never saw 


154 


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but one smooth-bore that would carry at all, and that was 
a French ducking- piece, upon the big lakes: it had a 
barrel half as long agin as my rifle, and would throw fine 
shot into a goose, at a hundred yards; but it made dread- 
ful work with the game, and you wanted a boat to carry 
it about in. When I went with Sir William agin the 
French, at Fort Niagara, all the rangers used the rifle; 
and a dreadful weapon it is, in the hands of one who 
knows how to charge it, and keep a steady aim. The 
Captain knows, for he says he was a soldier in Shirley’s; 
and though they were nothing but baggonet-men, he must 
know how we cut up the French and Iroquois in the 
scrimmages in that war. Chingachgook, which means 
‘ Big Sarpent ’ in English, old John Mohegan, who lives 
up at the hut with me, was a great warrior then, and was 
out with us ; he can tell all about it, too ; though he was 
an overhand for the tomahawk, never firing more than 
once or twice, before he was running in for the scalps. 
Ah! times is dreadfully altered since then. Why, Doc- 
tor, there was nothing but a foot-path, or at the most a 
track for pack-horses, along the Mohawk, from the Jar- 
man Flats up to the forts. Now, they say, they talk of 
running one of them wide roads with gates on it along the 
river; first making a road, and then fencing it up! I 
hunted one season back of the Kaatskills, nigh-hand to 
the settlements, and the dogs often lost the scent, when 
they came to them highways, there was so much travel 
on them; though I can’t say that the brutes was of a 
very good breed. Old Hector will wind a deer in the 
fall of the year, across the broadest place in the Otsego, 
and that is a mile and a half, for I paced it myself on the 
ice when the track was first surveyed, under the Indian 
grant. ” 

“It sames to me, Natty, but a sorry compliment, to 
call your comrade after the Evil One,” said the landlady; 
“and it ’s no much like a snake that old John is looking 
now. Nimrod would be a more besameing name for the 
lad, and a more Christian, too, seeing that it comes from 
the Bible. The sargeant read me the chapter about him, 


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155 


the night before my christening, and a mighty ’asement 
it was, to listen to anything from the Book.” 

“Old John and Chingachgook were very different men 
to look' on, ” returned the hunter, shaking his head at 
his melancholy recollections. “ In the ‘ fifty-eight war ’ 
he was in the middle of manhood, and taller than now 
by three inches. If you had seen him, as I did, the 
morning we beat Dieskau from behind our log walls, you 
would have called him as comely a redskin as ye ever 
set eyes on. He was naked all to his breech-cloth and 
leggings; and you never seed a creatur’ so handsomely 
painted. One side of his face was red, and the other 
black. His head was shaved clean, all to a few hairs on 
the crown, where he wore a tuft of eagle’s feathers, as 
bright as if they had come from a peacock’s tail. He 
had colored his sides so that they looked like an atomy, 
ribs and all; for Chingachgook had a great taste in such 
things; so that, what with his bold, fiery countenance, 
his knife, and his tomahawk, I have never seen a fiercer 
warrior on the ground. He played his part, too, like 
a man; for I saw him next day, with thirteen scalps on 
his pole. And I will say this for the ‘ Big Snake, ’ that 
he always dealt fair, and never scalped any that he didn’t 
kill with his own hands. ” 

“Well, well,” cried the landlady; “fighting is fighting, 
any way, and there is different fashions in the thing; 
though I can’t say that I relish mangling a body after the 
breath is out of it; neither do I think it can he uphild 
by doctrine. I hope, sargeant, ye niver was helping in 
sich evil worrek.” 

“It was my duty to keep my ranks, and to stand or 
fall by the baggonet or lead,” returned the veteran. “I 
was then in the fort, and seldom leaving my place, saw 
but little of the savages, who kept on the flanks or in 
front, skrimmaging. I remember, howsomever, to have 
heard mention made of the Great Snake, as he was called, 
for he was a chief of renown; but little did I ever ex- 
pect to see him enlisted in the cause of Christianity, and 
civilized like old John.” 


156 


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“Oh, he was christianized by the Moravians, who were 
always over-intimate with the Delawares,” said Leather- 
Stocking. “It’s my opinion that, had they been left to 
themselves, there would he no such doings now, about 
the head-waters of the two rivers, and that these hills 
mought have been kept as good hunting-ground by their 
right owner, who is not too old to carry a rifle, and whose 
sight is as true as a fish-hawk hovering ” — 

He was interrupted by more stamping at the door, and 
presently the party from the mansion-house entered, fol- 
lowed by the Indian himself. 


CHAPTEE XIY. 


There ’s quart-pot, pint-pot, half-pint, 

Gill-pot, half-gill, nipperkin, 

And the brown bowl — 

Here ’a a health to the barley mow, 

My brave boys, 

Here ’s a health to the barley mow. 

Drinking Song. 


Some little commotion was produced by the appearance 
of the new guests, during which the lawyer slunk from 
the roo'm. Most of the men approached Marmaduke, and 
shook his offered hand, hoping “that the Judge was 
well;” while Major Hartmann, having laid aside his hat 
and wig, and substituted for the latter a warm, peaked 
woolen night-cap, took his seat very quietly on one end 
of the settee, which was relinquished by its former occu- 
pants. His tobacco-box was next produced, and a clean 
pipe was handed him by the landlord. When he had 
succeeded in raising a smoke, the Major gave a long whiff, 
and turning his head towards the bar, he said : — 

“Petty, pring in ter toddy.” 

In the meantime the Judge had exchanged his saluta- 
tions with most of the company, and taken a place by the 
side of the Major, and Eichard had hustled himself into 
the most comfortable seat in the room. Mr. Le Quoi was 
the last seated, nor did he venture to place his chair 


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157 


finally, until by frequent removals, he had ascertained that 
he could not possibly intercept a ray of heat from any in- 
dividual present. Mohegan found a place on an end of 
one of the benches, and somewhat approximated to the 
bar. When these movements had subsided, the Judge 
remarked pleasantly : — 

“Well, Betty, I find you retain your popularity through 
all weathers, against all rivals, and among all religions. 
How liked you the sermon ? ” 

“ Is it the sarmon ? ” exclaimed the landlady. “ I 
can’t say but it was r’asonable; hut the prayers is mighty 
un’asy. It ’s no small matter for a body in their fifty- 
nint’ year, to be moving so much in church. Mr. Grant 
sames a godly man any way, and his garrel is a hoomble 
one, and a devout. Here, John, is a mug of cider, laced 
with whiskey. An Indian will drink cider, though he 
niver be athirst.” 

“I must say,” observed Hiram, with due deliberation, 
“that it was a tonguey thing; and I rather guess that 
it gave considerable satisfaction. There was one part, 
though, which might have been left out, or something else 
put in; but then I s’pose that, as it was a written dis- 
course, it is not so easily altered as where a minister 
preaches without notes.”' 

“Aye, there’s the rub, Jooge,” cried the landlady. 
“How can a man stand up and be pr’aching his word, 
when all that he is saying is written down, and he is as 
much tied to it as iver a thaving dragoon was to the 
pickets? ” 

“Well, well,” cried Marmaduke, waving his hand for 
silence, “there is enough said; as Mr. Grant told us, 
there are different sentiments on such subjects, and in my 
opinion he spoke most sensibly. — So, Jotham, I am told 
you have sold your betterments to a new settler, and have 
moved into the village and opened a school. Was it cash 
or dicker ? ” 

The man who was thus addressed occupied a seat im- 
mediately behind Marmaduke; and one who was ignorant 
of the extent of the Judge’s observation might have 


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thought he would have escaped notice. He was of a 
thin, shapeless figure, with a discontented expression of 
countenance, and with something extremely shiftless in 
his whole air. Thus spoken to, after turning and twist- 
ing a little, by way of preparation, he made a reply. 

“Why, part cash, and part dicker. I sold out to a 
Pumfret man who was so’ thin forehanded. He was to 
give me ten dollars an acre for the clearin’, and one dollar 
an acre over the first cost, on the woodland; and we 
agreed to leave the buildin’s to men. So I tuck Asa 
Montagu, and he tuck Absalom Bement, and they two 
tuck old Squire Napthali Green. And so they had a 
meetin’, and made out a vardict of eighty dollars for the 
buildin’s. There was twelve acres of clearin’, at ten 
dollars, and eighty-eight at one, and the hull came to two 
hundred and eighty-six dollars and a half, after paying 
the men.” 

“Hum,” said Marmaduke: “what did you give for the 
place ? ” 

“Why, besides what’s cornin’ to the Judge, I gi’n my 
brother Tim a hundred dollars for his bargain;, but then 
there ’s a new house on’t, that cost me sixty more, and I 
paid Moses a hundred dollars, for choppin’, and loggin’, 
and so win’ ; so that the hull stood me in about two hun- 
dred and sixty dollars. But then I had a great crop off 
on’t, and as I got twenty-six dollars and a half more than 
it cost, I conclude I made a pretty good trade on ’t.” 

“ Yes, but you forgot that the crop was yours without 
the trade, and you have turned yourself out of doors for 
twenty-six dollars.” 

“Oh, the Judge is clean out,” said the man, with a 
look of sagacious calculation; “he turned out a span of 
horses, that is wuth a hundred and fifty dollars of any 
man’s money, with a bran new wagon; fifty dollars in 
cash ; and a good note for eighty more ; and a side-saddle 
that was valued at seven and a half — so there was jist 
twelve shillings betwixt us. I wanted him to turn out 
a set of harness, and take the cow and the sap-troughs. 
He wouldn’t — but I saw through it; he thought I 


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159 


should have to buy the tacklin’ afore I could use the 
wagon and horses ; but I knowed a thing or two myself ; 
I should like to know of what use is the tacklin’ to him ! 
I offered him to trade back agin, for one hundred and 
fifty-five. But my woman said she wanted a churn, so I 
tuck a churn for the change.” 

“And what do you mean to do with your time this 
winter? you must remember that time is money.” 

“Why, as the master is gone down country, to see his 
mother, who, they say, is going to make a die on’t, I 
agreed to take the school in hand till he comes hack. If 
times doosn’t get worse in the spring, I’ve some no- 
tion of going into trade, or maybe I may move off to the 
Genesee; they say they are carryin’ on a great stroke of 
business that-a-way. If the wust comes to the wust, I 
can hut work at my trade, for I was brought up in a shoe 
manufactory.” 

It would seem that Marmaduke did not think his so- 
ciety of sufficient value to attempt inducing him to remain 
where he was; for he addressed no further discourse to 
the man, hut turned his attention to other subjects. After 
a short pause, Hiram ventured a question : — 

“What news does the Judge bring us from the legisla- 
ture? It’s not likely that Congress has done much this 
session; or maybe the French haven’t fit any more bat- 
tles lately ? ” 

“The French, since they have beheaded their king, 
have done nothing but fight,” returned the Judge. “The 
character of the nation seems changed. I knew many 
French gentlemen, during our war, and they all appeared 
to me to he men of great humanity and goodness of heart; 
but these Jacobins are as bloodthirsty as bull-dogs.” 

“There was one Roshambow wid us, down at Yorek 
town,” cried the landlady; “a mighty pratty man he was, 
too; and their horse was the very same. It was there 
that the sargeant got the hurt in the leg, from the Eng- 
lish batteries, bad luck to ’em.” 

“Ah! mon pauvre roi ! ” murmured Monsieur Le Quoi. 

“The legislature have been passing laws,” continued 


160 


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Marmaduke, “that the country much required. Among 
others, there is an act prohibiting the drawing of seines, 
at any other than proper seasons, in certain of our streams 
and small lakes; and another, to prohibit the killing of 
deer in the teeming months. These are laws that were 
loudly called for, by judicious men; nor do I despair of 
getting an act to make the unlawful felling of timber a 
criminal offense.” 

The hunter listened to this detail with breathless atten- 
tion, and when the Judge had ended, he laughed in open 
derision. 

“You may make your laws, Judge,” he cried, “but 
who will you find to watch the mountains through the 
long summer days, or the lakes at night? Game is game, 
and he who finds may kill ; that has been the law in these 
mountains for forty years, to my sartain knowledge; and 
I think one old law is worth two new ones. None hut 
a green- one would wish to kill a doe with a faan by its 
side, unless his moccasins were getting old, or his leggings 
ragged, for the flesh is lean and coarse. But a rifle rings 
among the rocks along the lake shore, sometimes, as if 
fifty pieces were fired at once: it would he hard to tell 
where the man stood who pulled the trigger.” 

“Armed with the dignity of the law, Mr. Bumppo,” 
returned the Judge, gravely, “a vigilant magistrate can 
prevent much of the evil that has hitherto prevailed, and 
which is already rendering the game scarce. I hope to 
live to see the day when a man’s rights in his game shall 
be as much respected as his title to his farm.” 

“Your titles and your farms are all new together,” 
cried Natty; “but laws should be equal, and not more 
for one than another. I shot a deer, last Wednesday was 
a fortnight, and it floundered through the snow-banks till 
it got over a brush fence; I catched the lock of my rifle 
in the twigs in following, and was kept back, until finally 
the creatur’ got off. Now, I want to know who is to 
pay me for that deer? and a fine buck it was. If there 
hadn’t been a fence I should have gotten another shot 
into it; and I never drawed upon anything that had n’t 


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161 


wings three times running, in my born days. No, no, 
Judge, it’s the farmers that makes the game scarce, and 
not the hunters.” 

“Ter teer is not so plenty as in ter old war, Pumppo,” 
said the Major, who had been an attentive listener, amidst 
clouds of smoke ; “ put ter lant is not mate as for ter teer 
to live on, put for Christians.” 

“Why, Major, I believe you ’re a friend to justice and 
the right, though you go so often to the grand house; but 
it ’s a hard case to a man to have his honest calling for a 
livelihood stopped by laws, and that too when, if right 
was done, he mought hunt or fish on any day in the week, 
or on the best flat in the Patent, if he was so minded.” 

“I unterstant you, Letter-Stockint,” returned the Ma- 
jor, fixing his black eyes, with a look of peculiar meaning, 
on the hunter; “put you didn’t use to be so prutent as 
to look ahet mit so much care.” 

“Maybe there wasn’t so much occasion,” said the 
hunter, a little sulkily ; when he sank into a silence from 
which he was not roused for some time. 

“The Judge was saying so’thin about the French,” 
Hiram observed, when the pause in the conversation had 
continued a decent time. 

“Yes, sir,” returned Marmaduke, “the Jacobins of 
France seem rushing from one act of licentiousness to an- 
other. They continue those murders, which are dignified 
by the name of executions. You have heard that they 
have added the death of their queen to the long list of 
their crimes.” 

“Les monstres!” again murmured Monsieur Le Quoi, 
turning himself suddenly in his chair, with a convulsive 
start. 

“The province of La Vendee is laid waste by the troops 
of the republic, and hundreds of its inhabitants, who are 
royalists in their sentiments, are shot at a time. La 
Vendee is a district in the southwest of France that con- 
tinues yet much attached to the family of the Bourbons ; 
doubtless Monsieur Le Quoi is acquainted with it, and 
can describe it more faithfully.” 


162 


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“Non, non, non, mon cher ami,” returned the French- 
man, in a suppressed voice, but speaking rapidly, and 
gesticulating with his right hand, as if for mercy, while 
with his left he concealed his eyes. 

“There have been many battles fought lately,” contin- 
ued Marmaduke, “and the infuriated republicans are too 
often victorious. I cannot say, however, that I am sorry 
they have captured Toulon from the English, for it is a 
place to which they have a just right.” 

“Ah — ha!” exclaimed Monsieur Le Quoi, springing 
on his feet, and flourishing both arms with great anima- 
tion ; “ ces Anglais ! ” 

The Frenchman continued to move about the room 
with great alacrity for a few minutes, repeating his excla- 
mations to himself; when, overcome by the contradictory 
nature of his emotions, he suddenly burst out of the 
house, and was seen wading through the snow towards his 
little shop, waving his arms on high as if to pluck down 
honor from the moon. His departure excited hut little sur- 
prise, for the villagers were used to his manner; but Major 
Hartmann laughed outright, for the first time during his 
visit, as he lifted the mug, and observed : — 

“ Ter Frenchman is mat — put he is goot as for notting 
to trink; he is trunk mit joy.” 

“The French are good soldiers,” said Captain Hollister; 
“they stood us in hand a good turn, down at Yorktown; 
nor do I think, although I am an ignorant man about the 
great movements of the army, that his excellency would 
have been able to march against Cornwallis, without their 
reinforcements. ” 

“Ye spake the trut’, sargeant,” interrupted his wife, 
“and I would iver have ye be doing the same. It’s 
varry pratty men is the French; and jist when I stopt 
the cart, the time when ye was pushing on in front it 
was, to kape the rig’lers in, a rigiment of the jontlemen 
marched by, and so I dealt them out to their liking. 
Was it pay I got? sure did I, and in good solid crowns: 
the divil a bit of continental could they muster among 
them all, for love nor money. Och! the Lord forgive 


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163 


me for swearing and sp’aking of such vanities: but this 
I will say for the French, that they paid in good silver; 
and one glass would go a great way wid ’em, for they 
gin ’rally handed it hack wid a drop in the cup; and that ’s 
a brisk trade, Jooge, where the pay is good, and the men 
not over partic’lar.” 

“A thriving trade, Mrs. Hollister,” said Marmaduke. 
“But what has become of Richard? he jumped up as soon 
as seated, and has been absent so long that I am fearful 
he has frozen.” 

“Ho fear of that, cousin ’Duke,” cried the gentleman 
himself; “business will sometimes keep a man warm the 
coldest night that ever snapt in the mountains. Betty, 
your husband told me, as we came out of church, that 
your hogs were getting mangy, so I have been out to take 
a look at them, and found it true. I stepped across, Doc- 
tor, and got your boy to weigh me out a pound of salts, 
and have been mixing it with their swill. I ’ll bet a sad- 
dle of venison against a gray squirrel, that they are better 
in a week. And now, Mrs. Hollister, I ’m ready for a 
hissing mug of flip.” 

“Sure I knowed ye ’d be wanting that same,” said the 
landlady; “it ’s mixt and ready to the boiling. Sargeant, 
dear, he handing up the iron, will ye ? — no, the one in 
the far fire, it’s black, ye will see. Ah! you’ve the 
thing now; look if it ’s not as red as a cherry.” . 

The beverage was heated, and Richard took that kind 
of draught which men are apt to indulge in, who think 
that they have just executed a clever thing, especially 
when they like the liquor. 

“Oh, you have a hand, Betty, that was formed to mix 
flip,” cried Richard, when he paused for breath. “The 
very iron has a flavor in it. Here, John, drink, man, 
drink. I and you and Dr. Todd have done a good 
thing with the shoulder of that lad this very night. 
’Duke, I made a song while you were gone — one day 
when I had nothing to do; so I ’ll sing you a verse or 
two, though I have n’t really determined on the tune 
yet: — 


164 


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“ What is life but a scene of care, 

Where each one must toil in his wa}' ? 

Then let us be jolly, and prove that we are 
A set of good fellows, who seem very rare, 

And can laugh and sing all the day. 

Then let us be jolly, 

And cast away folly, 

For grief turns a black head to gray. 

There, ’Duke, what do you think of that? There is an- 
other verse of it, all but the last line. I have n’t got a 
rhyme for the last line yet. Well, old John, what do 
you think of the music? as good as one of your war- 
songs, ha? ” 

“ Good ! ” said Mohegan, who had been sharing deeply 
in the potations of the landlady, besides paying a proper 
respect to the passing mugs of the Major and Marmaduke. 

“Pravo! pravo! Richart,” cried the Major, whose 
black eyes were beginning to swim in moisture; “pravis- 
simo! it is a goot song; put Natty Pumppo hast a petter. 
Letter- Stockint, vilt sing? — say, olt poy, vilt sing ter 
song, as apout ter woots ? ” 

“No, no, Major,” returned the hunter, with a melan- 
choly shake of the head, “I have lived to see what I 
thought eyes could never behold in these hills, and I have 
no heart left for singing. If he, that has a right to be 
master and ruler here, is forced to squinch his thirst, 
when a-dry, with snow-water, it ill becomes them that 
have lived by his bounty to be making merry, as if there 
was nothing in the world but sunshine and summer.” 

When he had spoken, Leather-Stocking again dropped 
his head on his knees, and concealed his hard and wrin- 
kled features with his hands. The change from the ex- 
cessive cold without to the heat of the barroom, coupled 
with the depth and frequency of Richard’s draughts, had 
already leveled whatever inequality there might have ex- 
isted between him and the other guests, on the score of 
spirits ; and he now held out a pair of swimming mugs of 
foaming flip towards the hunter, as he cried : — 

“ Merry ! aye ! Merry Christmas to you, old boy ! 
Sunshine and summer ! no ! you are blind, Leather- Stock- 


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165 


ing, ’t is moonshine and winter 3 take these spectacles, 
and open your eyes, — 

“ So let us be jolly, 

And cast away foil}’ - , 

For grief turns a black head to gray. 

“Hear how old John turns his quavers. What damned 
dull music an Indian song is, after all, Major! I wonder 
if they ever sing by note.” 

While Richard was singing and talking, Mohegan was 
uttering dull, monotonous tones, keeping time by a gentle 
motion of his head and body. He made use of but few 
words, and such as he did utter were in his native lan- 
guage, and consequently only understood by himself and 
Natty. Without heeding Richard he continued to sing 
a kind of wild, melancholy air, that rose, at times, in 
sudden and quite elevated notes, and then fell again into 
the low, quavering sounds that seemed to compose the 
character of his music. 

The attention of the company was now much divided, 
the men in the rear having formed themselves into lit- 
tle groups, where they were discussing various matters, 
— among the principal of which were, the treatment of 
mangy hogs and Parson Grant’s preaching; while Dr. 
Todd was endeavoring to explain to Marmaduke the na- 
ture of the hurt received by the young hunter. Mohegan 
continued to sing, while his countenance was becoming 
vacant, though, coupled with his thick bushy hair, it was 
assuming an expression very much. like brutal ferocity. 
His notes were gradually growing louder, and soon rose 
to a height that caused a general cessation in the dis- 
course. The hunter now raised his head again, and ad- 
dressed the old warrior, warmly, in the Delaware lan- 
guage, which, for the benefit of our readers, we shall 
render freely into English. 

“Why do you sing of your battles, Chingachgook, and 
of the warriors you have slain, when the worst enemy of 
all is near you, and keeps the Young Eagle from his 
rights ? I have fought in as many battles as any warrior 


1G6 


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in you* tribe, but cannot boast of my deeds at such a 
time as this.” 

“Hawkeye,” said the Indian, tottering with a doubt- 
ful step from his place, “I am the Great Snake of the 
Delawares; I can track the Mingos like an adder that is 
stealing on the whippoorwill’s eggs, and strike them like 
the rattlesnake, dead at a blow. The white man made 
the tomahawk of Chingachgook bright as the waters of 
Otsego, when the last sun is shining; but it is red with 
the blood of the Maquas.” 

“And why have you slain the Mingo warriors? Was 
it not to keep these hunting-grounds and lakes to your 
father’s children? and were they not given in solemn 
council to the Fire-eater? and does not the blood of a 
warrior run in the veins of a young chief, who should 
speak aloud, where his voice is now too low to be heard ? ” 

The appeal of the hunter seemed in some measure to 
recall the confused faculties of the Indian, who turned his 
face towards the listeners and gazed intently on the Judge. 
He shook his head, throwing his hair back from his coun- 
tenance, and exposed eyes that were glaring with an ex- 
pression of wild resentment. But the man was not him- 
self. His hand seemed to make a fruitless effort to release 
his tomahawk, which was confined by its handle to his 
belt, while his eyes gradually became vacant. Richard 
at that instant thrusting a mug before him, his features 
changed to the grin of idiocy, and seizing the vessel with 
both hands, he sank backward on the bench and drank 
until satiated, when .he made an effort to lay aside the 
mug with the helplessness of total inebriety. 

“ Shed not blood ! ” exclaimed the hunter, as he watched 
the countenance of the Indian in its moment of ferocity ; 
“ but he is drunk, and can do no harm. This is the way 
with all the savages; give them liquor, and they make 
dogs of themselves. Well, well, the time will come when 
right will be done ; and we must have 'patience. ” 

Natty still spoke in the Delaware language, and of 
course was not understood. He had hardly concluded, 
before Richard cried : — 


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167 


“Well, old John is soon sewed up. Give him a herth, 
Captain, in the barn, and I will pay for it. I am rich 
to-night — ten times richer than ’Duke, with all his 
lands, and military lots, and funded debts, and bonds, 
and mortgages. 

“Come, let us be jolly, 

And cast away folly, 

For grief — 

Drink, King Hiram — drink, Mr. Doo-nothing — drink, 
sir, I say. This is a Christmas Eve, which comes, you 
know, hut once a year.” 

“He! he! he! the Squire is quite moosical to-night,” 
said Hiram, whose visage began to give marvelous signs 
of relaxation. “I rather guess we shall make a church 
on ’ t yet, Squire 1 ” 

“A church, Mr. Doolittle! we will make a cathedral of 
it! bishops, priests, deacons, wardens, vestry, and choir: 
organ, organist, and bellows! By the Lord Harry, as 
Benjamin says, we will clap a steeple on the other end of 
it, and make two churches of it. What say you, ’Duke, 
will you pay ? ha ! my cousin Judge wilt pay ! ” 

“Thou makest such a noise, Dickon,” returned Marma- 
duke, “it is impossible that I can hear what Dr. Todd 
is saying, — I think thou observedst, it is probable the 
wound will fester, so as to occasion danger to the limb in 
this cold weather ? ” 

“Out of natur’, sir, quite out of natur’,” said Elna- 
than, attempting to expectorate, but succeeding only in 
throwing a light, frothy substance, like a flake of snow, 
into the fire, “quite out of natur’, that a wound so .well 
dressed, and with the hall in my pocket, should fester. 
I s’ pose, as the Judge talks of taking the young man into 
his house, it will be most convenient if I make hut one 
charge on ’t.” 

“I should think one would do,” returned Marmaduke, 
with that arch smile that so often beamed on his face; 
leaving the beholder in doubt whether he most enjoyed 
the character of his companion, or his own covert humor. 

The landlord had succeeded in placing the Indian on 


168 


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some straw in one of his outbuildings, where, covered with 
his own blanket, John continued for the remainder of the 
night. In the meantime, Major Hartmann began to grow 
noisy and jocular; glass succeeded glass, and mug after 
mug was introduced, until the carousal had run deep into 
the night, or rather morning; when the veteran German 
expressed an inclination to return to the mansion-house. 
Most of the party had already retired, but Marmaduke 
knew the habits of his friend too well to suggest an earlier 
adjournment. So soon, however, as the proposal was 
made, the Judge eagerly availed himself of it, and the 
trio prepared to depart. Mrs. Hollister attended them to 
the door in person, cautioning her guests as to the safest 
manner of leaving her premises. 

“Lane on Mister Jones, Major , ” said she, “he ’s young, 
and will be a support to ye. Well, it ’s a charming sight 
to see ye, any way, at the Bould Dragoon; and sure it’s 
no harm to be kaping a Christmas Eve wid a light heart, 
for it ’s no telling when we may have sorrow come upon 
us. So good night, Jooge, and a Merry Christmas to ye 
all, to-morrow morning.” 

The gentlemen made their adieus as well as they could, 
and taking the middle of the road, which was a fine, 
wide, and well-beaten path, they did tolerably well until 
they reached the gate of the mansion-house; but om en- 
tering the Judge’s domains, they encountered some slight 
difficulties. We shall not stop to relate them, but will 
just mention that, in the morning, sundry diverging paths 
were to be seen in the snow ; and that once during their 
progress to the door, Marmaduke, missing his companions, 
was enabled to trace them, by one of these paths, to a 
spot where he discovered them with nothing visible but 
their heads, Richard singing in a most vivacious strain : — 

“ Come, let us be jolly, 

And cast away folh', 

For grief turns a black head to gray.” 


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169 


CHAPTER XY. 

As she lay, on that day, in the Bay of Biscay, O ! 

Andrew Cherry : The Bay of Biscay , 0 ! 

Previously to the occurrence of the scene at the 
“Bold Dragoon,” Elizabeth had been safely reconducted 
to the mansion-house, where she was left as its mistress, 
either to amuse or employ herself during the evening as 
best suited her own inclinations. Most of the lights were 
extinguished; but as Benjamin adjusted, with great care 
and regularity, four large candles, in as many massive can- 
dlesticks of brass, in a row on the sideboard, the hall pos- 
sessed a peculiar air of comfort and warmth, contrasted 
with Idle cheerless aspect of the room she had left in the 
academy. 

Remarkable had been one of the listeners to Mr. Grant, 
and returned with her resentment, which had been not 
a little excited by the language of the Judge, somewhat 
softened by reflection and the worship. She recollected 
the youth of Elizabeth, and thought it no difficult task, 
under present appearances, to exercise that power indi- 
rectly, which hitherto she had enjoyed undisputed. The 
idea of being governed, or of being compelled to pay the 
deference of servitude, was absolutely intolerable; and she 
had already determined within herself, some half dozen 
times, to make an effort, that should at once bring to 
an issue the delicate point of her domestic condition. 
But as often as she met the dark, proud eye of Elizabeth, 
who was walking up and down the apartment, musing on 
the scenes of her youth, and the change in her condition, 
and perhaps the events of the day, the housekeeper experi- 
enced an awe that she would not own to herself could be 
excited by anything mortal. It, however, checked her 
advances, and for some time held her tongue-tied. At 
length she determined to commence the discourse, by 
entering on a subject that was apt to level all human dis- 
tinctions, and in which she might display her own abilities. 

“ It was quite a wordy sarmon that Parson Grant gave 


170 


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us to-night, ” said Remarkable. “The church ministers 
he commonly smart sarmonizers; hut they write down 
their idees, which is a great privilege. I don’t think 
that by natur’ they are as tonguey speakers, for an off- 
hand discourse, as the standing-order ministers.” 

“And what denomination do you distinguish as the 
standing- order ? ” inquired Miss Temple, with some sur- 
prise. 

“"Why, the Presbyter’ans and Congregationals, and 
Baptists, too, for ’t I know ; and all sitch as don’t go on 
their knees to prayer.” 

“ By that rule, then, you would call those who belong 
to the persuasion of my father, the sitting- order,” ob- 
served Elizabeth. 

“I’m sure I’ve never heard ’em spoken of by any 
other name than Quakers, so-called,” returned Remark- 
able, betraying a slight uneasiness: “I should he the last 
to call them otherwise, for I never in my life used a dis- 
paraging tarm of the Judge, or any of his family. I ’ve 
always set store by the Quakers, they are so pretty-spoken, 
clever people; and it’s a wonderment to me, how your 
father come to marry into a church family ; for they are 
as contrary in religion as can he. One sits still, and for 
the most part, says nothing, while the church folks prac- 
tyce all kinds of ways, so that I sometimes think it quite 
moosical to see them; for I went to a church meeting 
once before, down country.” 

“You have found an excellence in the church liturgy 
that has hitherto escaped me. I will thank you to in- 
quire whether the fire in my room burns: I feel fatigued 
with my journey, and will retire.” 

Remarkable felt a wonderful inclination to tell the 
young mistress of the mansion that by opening a door 
she might see for herself; hut prudence got the better of 
resentment, and after pausing some little time, as a salvo 
to her dignity, she did as desired. The report was favor- 
able and the young lady, wishing Benjamin, who was 
filling the stove with wood, and the housekeeper, each 
a good night, withdrew. 


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171 


The instant the door closed on Miss Temple, Remark- 
able commenced a sort of mysterious, ambiguous discourse, 
that was neither abusive nor commendatory of the quali- 
ties of the absent personage; but which seemed to be 
drawing nigh, by regular degrees, to a most dissatisfied 
description. The major-domo made no reply, but contin- 
ued his occupation with great industry, which being hap- 
pily completed, he took a look at the thermometer, and 
then, opening a drawer of the sideboard, he produced a 
supply of stimulants that would have served to keep the 
warmth in his system without the aid of the enormous 
fire he had been building. A small stand was drawn up 
near the stove, and the bottles and the glasses necessary 
for convenience were quietly arranged. Two chairs were 
placed by the side of this comfortable situation, when 
Benjamin, for the first time, appeared to observe his com- 
panion. 

“Come,” he cried, “come, Mistress Remarkable, bring 
yourself to an anchor in this chair. It ’s a peeler with- 
out, I can tell you, good woman ; but what cares I ? blow 
high or blow low, d’ ye see, it ’s all the same thing to 
Ben. The niggers are snug stowed below before a fire 
that would roast an ox whole. The thermometer stands 
now at fifty-five, but if there ’s any vartue in good maple 
wood, I ’ll weather upon it before one glass as much as 
ten points more, so that the Squire, when he comes home 
from Betty Hollister’s warm room, will feel as hot as a 
hand that has given the rigging a lick with bad tar. 
Come, mistress, bring up in this here chair, and tell me 
how you like our new heiress.” 

“ Why, to my notion, Mr. Penguillum ” — 

“Pump, Pump,” interrupted Benjamin; “it’s Christ- 
mas Eve, Mistress Remarkable, and so, d’ ye see, you had 
better call me Pump. It ’s a shorter name, and as I mean 
to pump this here decanter till it sucks, why, you may 
as well call me Pump.” 

“Did you ever!” cried Remarkable, with a laugh that 
seemed to unhinge every joint in her body. “You’re a 
moosical creatur’, Benjamin, when the notion takes you. 


172 


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But as I was saying, I rather guess that times will he 
altered now in this house.” 

“Altered!” exclaimed the major-domo, eying the bot- 
tle that was assuming the clear aspect of cut glass with 
astonishing fapidity; “it don’t matter much, Mistress 
Bemarkable, so long as I keep the keys of the lockers in 
my pocket.” 

“I can’t say,” continued the housekeeper, “but there ’s 
good eatables and drinkables enough in the house for a 
body’s content — a little more sugar, Benjamin, in the 
glass — for Squire Jones is an excellent provider. But 
new lords, new laws; and I shouldn’t wonder if you and 
I had an unsartain time on ’t in footer.” 

“Life is as unsartain as the wind that blows,” said 
Benjamin, with a moralizing air; “and nothing is more 
vari’ble than the wind, Mistress Bemarkable, unless you 
happen to fall in with the trades, d’ ye see, and then you 
may run for the matter of a month at a time, with stud- 
ding-sails on both sides, alow and aloft, and with the 
cabin-boy at the wheel.” 

“I know that life is desp’ut unsartain,” said Bemark- 
able, compressing her features to the humor of her com- 
panion ; “ but I expect there will be great changes made 
in the house to rights; and that you will find a young 
man put over your head, as there is one that wants to be 
over mine; and after having been settled as long as you 
have, Benjamin, I should judge that to be hard.” 

“Promotion should go according to length of sarvice,” 
said the major-domo; “and if-so-be that they ship a hand 
for my berth, or place a new steward aft, I shall throw 
up my commission in less time than you can put a pilot- 
boat in stays. Tho’ ’f Squire Dickens ” — this was a com- 
mon misnomer with Benjamin — “is a nice gentleman, 
and as good a man to sail with as heart could wish, yet 
I shall tell the Squire, d’ ye see, in plain English, and 
that ’s my native tongue, that if-so-be he is thinking of 
putting any Johnny Baw over my head, why I shall re- 
sign. I began forrard, Mistress Prettybones, and worked 
my way aft, like a man. I was six months aboard a 


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173 


Garnsey lugger, hauling in the slack of the lee-sheet, and 
coiling up rigging. From that I went a few trips in a 
fore-and-after, in the same trade, which, after all, was 
hut a blind kind of sailing in the dark, where a man 
l’arns but little, excepting how to steer by the stars. 
Well, then, d’ ye see, I l’arnt how a topmast should be 
slushed, and how a topgallant-sail was to he becketed; 
and then I did small jobs in the cabin, such as mixing 
the skipper’s grog. ’T was there I got my taste, which, 
you must have often seen, is excellent. Well, here ’s 
better acquaintance to us.” 

Remarkable nodded a return to the compliment, and 
took a sip of the beverage before her; for, provided it 
was well sweetened, she had no objection to a small pota- 
tion now and then. After this observance of courtesy 
between the worthy couple, the dialogue proceeded. 

“You have had great experiences in life, Benjamin, 
for, as the Scripter says, 1 They that go down to the sea 
in ships see the works of the Lord. ’ ” 

“Aye, for that matter, they in brigs and schooners too; 
and it mought say, the works of the devil. The sea, 
Mistress Remarkable, is a great advantage to a man, in 
the way of knowledge, for he sees the fashions of nations, 
and the shape of a country. Now, I suppose, for myself 
here, who is but an unl’arned man to some that follows 
the seas, I suppose that, taking the coast from Cape Ler 
Hogue, as low down as Cape Finish-there, there isn’t 
so much as a headland or an island that I don’t know 
either the name of it, or something more or less abou^ it. 
Take enough, woman, to color the water. Here ’s sugar. 
It ’s a sweet tooth, that fellow that you hold on upon 
yet, Mistress Frettybones. But as I was saying, take the 
whole coast along, I know it as w r ell as the way from here 
to the Bold Dragoon; and a devil of an acquaintance is 
that Bay of Biscay. Whew ! I wish you could but hear 
the wind blow there. It sometimes takes two to hold one 
man’s hair on his head. Scudding through the Bay is 
pretty much the same thing as traveling the roads in this 
country, up one side of the mountain and down the other . 99 


174 


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“Do tell!” exclaimed Remarkable; “and does the sea 
run as high as mountains, Benjamin ? ” 

“Well, I will tell; hut first let ’s taste the grog. Hem! 
it ’s the right kind of stuff, I must say, that you keep in 
this country — but then you ’re so close aboard the West 
Indies' you make but a small run of it. By the Lord 
Harry, woman, if Garnsey only lay somewhere between 
Cape Hatteras and the Bite of Logann, but you ’d see 
rum cheap ! As to the seas, they runs more in uppers in 
the Bay of Biscay, unless it may be in a sou’wester, when 
they tumble about quite handsomely; tho’ ’f it’s not in 
the narrow sea that you are to look for a swell, just go 
off the Western Islands in a westerly blow, keeping the 
land on your larboard hand, with the ship’s head to 
the south’ard, and bring to under a close-reefed topsail; 
or, mayhap, a reefed foresail, with a foretopmast-staysail 
and mizzen-staysail, to keep her up to the sea, if she will 
bear it; and lay there for the matter of two watches, if 
you want to see mountains. Why, good woman, I ’ve 
been off there in the Boadishey frigate, when you could 
see nothing but some such matter as a piece of sky, may- 
hap, as big as the mainsail; and then again, there was 
a hole under your lee-quarter big enough to hold the 
whole British navy.” 

“Oh, for massy’s sake! and wa’n’t you afeared, Benja- 
min ? and how did you get off ? ” 

“ Afeared ! who the devil do you think was to be fright- 
ened at a little salt water tumbling about his head ? As 
for getting off, when we had enough of it, and had 
washed our decks down pretty well, we called all hands, 
for, d’ ye see, the watch below was in their hammocks 
all the same as if they were in one of your best bed- 
rooms ; and so we watched for a smooth time ; clapt her 
helm hard-a-weather, let fall the foresail, and got the 
tack aboard ; and so, when we got her afore it, I ask you, 
Mistress Prettybones, if she didn’t walk? — didn’t she? 
I’m no liar, good woman, when I say that I saw that ship 
jump from the top of one sea to another, just like one of 
these squirrels that can fly jumps from tree to tree.” 


THE PIONEEKS 


175 


“ What, clean out of the water ! ” exclaimed Remark- 
able, lifting her two lank arms, with their bony hands 
spread in astonishment. 

“It was no such easy matter to get out of the water, 
good woman; for the spray flew so that you couldn’t tell 
which was sea and which was cloud. So there we kept 
her afore it for the matter of two glasses. The first lieu- 
tenant he cun’d the ship himself, and there was four 
quartermasters at the wheel, besides the master with six 
forecastle men in the gun-room, at the relieving tackles. 
But then she behaved herself so well! Oh, she was a 
sweet ship, mistress! That one frigate was well worth 
more, to live in, than the best house in the island. If 
I was King of England, I ’d have her hauled up above 
Lon’ on bridge, and fit her up for a palace — because 
why ? if anybody can afford to live comfortably, his majesty 
can. ” 

“Well! but, Benjamin , ” cried the listener, who was 
in an ecstasy of astonishment, at this relation of the stew- 
ard’s dangers, “what did you do? ” 

“ Do ! why we did our duty like hearty fellows. Now 
if the countrymen of Mounsheer Ler Quaw had been 
aboard of her, they would have just struck her ashore on 
some of them small islands; hut we run along the land, 
until we found her dead to leeward off the mountains of 
Pico, and damme if I know to this day how we got 
there; whether we jumped over the island, or hauled 
round it; but there we was, and there we lay, under easy 
sail, fore-reaching first upon one tack and then upon 
t’ other, so as to poke her nose out now and then, and 
take a look to wind’ard, till the gale hlowed its pipe 
out. ” 

“I wonder now!” exclaimed Remarkable, to whom 
most of the terms used by Benjamin were perfectly unin- 
telligible, but who had got a confused idea of a raging 
tempest. “It must be an awful life, that going to sea! 
and I don’t feel astonishment that you are so affronted 
with the thoughts of being forced to quit a comfortable 
home like this. Not that a body cares much for ’t, as 


176 


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there ’s more houses than one to live in. Why, when 
the Judge agreed with me to come and live with him, 
I ’d no more notion of stopping any time than anything. 
I happened in, just to see how the family did, about a 
week after Mis’ Temple died, thinking to be back home 
agin night; but the family was in sitch a distressed way, 
that I could n’t but stop awhile and help ’em on. I 
thought the situation a good one, seeing that I was an 
unmarried body, and they were so much in want of help; 
so I tarried. ” 

“And a long time have you left your anchors down in 
the same place, mistress. I think you must find that the 
ship rides easy.” 

“How you talk, Benjamin! there ’s no believing a word 
you say. I must say that the Judge and Squire Jones 
have both acted quite clever, so long, — but I see that 
now we shall have a specimen to the contrary. I heer’n 
say that the Judge was gone a great ’broad, and that he 
meant to bring his darter hum, but I didn’t calculate on 
sitch carrins on. To my notion, Benjamin, she ’s likely 
to turn out a desp’ut ugly gal.” 

“Ugly!” echoed the major-domo, opening eyes that 
were beginning to close in a very suspicious sleepiness, in 
wide amazement. “ By the Lord Harry, woman, I should 
as soon think of calling the Boadishey a clumsy frigate. 
What the devil would you have ? Are n’t her eyes as 
bright as the morning and evening stars? and isn’t her 
hair as black and glistening as rigging that has just had 
a lick of tar? doesn’t she move as stately as a first-rate in 
smooth water, on a bow-line? Why, woman, the figure- 
head of the Boadishey was a fool to her, and that, as 
I ’ve often heard the captain say, was an image of a great 
queen; and aren’t queens always comely women? for who 
do you think would be a king, and not choose a handsome 
bedfellow ? ” 

“Talk decent, Benjamin,” said the housekeeper, “or I 
won’t keep your company. I don’t gainsay her being 
comely to look on, but I will maintain that she ’s likely 
to show poor conduct. She seems to think herself too 


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177 


good to talk to a body. From what Squire Jones had 
telled me, I some expected to he quite captivated by her 
company. Now, to my reckoning, Lowizy Grant is much 
more pritty behaved than Betsey Temple. She would n’t 
so much as hold discourse with me, when I wanted to 
ask her how she felt, on coming home and missing her 
mammy. ” 

“Perhaps she didn’t understand you, woman; you are 
none of the best linguister ; and then Miss Lizzy has been 
exercising the king’s English under a great Lon’on lady, 
and, for that matter, can talk the language almost as well 
as myself, or any native-born British subject. You ’ve 
forgot your schooling, and the young mistress is a great 
scollard.” 

“Mistress!” cried Remarkable, “don’t make one out' 
to be a nigger, Benjamin. She ’s no mistress of mine, 
and never will be. And as to speech, I hold myself as 
second to nobody out of New England. I was born and 
raised in Essex County; and I ’ve always heer’n say that 
the Bay State was provarbal for pronounsation ! ” 

“I’ve often heard of that Bay of State,” said Benja- 
min, “but can’t say that I ’ve ever been in it, nor do I 
know exactly whereaway it is that it lays; but I sup- 
pose there is good anchorage in it, and that it ’s no bad 
place for the taking of ling; but for size, it can’t be so 
much as a yawl to a sloop of war, compared with the Bay 
of Biscay, or mayhap, Torbay. And as for language, if 
you want to hear the dictionary overhauled, like a long- 
line in a blow, you must go to Wapping , 1 and listen to 
the Lon ’oners, as they deal out their lingo. Howsom- 
ever, I see no such mighty matter that Miss Lizzy has 
been doing to you, good woman, so take another drop 
of your brew, and forgive and forget, like an honest soul. ” 

“No, indeed! and I shan’t do sitch a thing, Benjamin. 
This treatment is a newity to me, and what I won’t put 
up with. I have a hundred and fifty dollars at use, be- 
sides a bed and twenty sheep, to good; and I don’t crave 

1 [A part of London situated below the Tower and along the north 
bank of the Thames, not far from Ratcliff Highway.] 


178 


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to live in a house where a body mustn’t call a young 
woman by her given name to her face. I will call her 
Betsey as much as I please; it’s a free country, and no 
one can stop me. I did intend to stop while summer, 
but I shall quit to-morrow morning ; and I will talk just 
as I please.” 

“For that matter, Mistress Remarkable,” said Benja- 
min, “there’s none here who will contradict you; for 
I’m of opinion that it would be as easy to stop a hurri- 
cane with a Barcelony handkerchy , 1 as to bring up your 
tongue when the stopper is off. I say, good woman, 
do they grow many monkeys along the shores of that Bay 
of State? ” 

“You’re a monkey yourself, Mr. Penguillum,” cried 
the enraged housekeeper, “or a bear! a black, beastly 
bear! and ain’t fit for a decent woman to stay with. I ’ll 
never keep your company agin, sir, if I should live thirty 
years with the Judge. Sitch talk is more befitting the 
kitchen than the keeping-room of a house of one who is 
well to do in the world.” 

“ Look you, Mistress Pitty — Patty — Pretty bones, 
mayhap I ’m some such matter as a bear, as they will find 
who come to grapple with me; but damme if I’m a 
monkey — a thing that chatters without knowing a word 
of what it says — a parrot ; that will hold a dialogue, for 
what an honest man knows, in a dozen languages ; may- 
hap in the Bay of State lingo; mayhap in Greek or High 
Dutch. But dost it know what it means itself? canst 
answer me that, good woman? Your midshipman can 
sing out and pass the word, when the captain gives the 
order, but just set him adrift by himself, and let him 
work the ship of his own head, and stop my grog if you 
don’t find all the Johnny Raws laughing at him.” 

“ Stop your grog, indeed ! ” said Remarkable, rising 
with great indignation, and seizing a candle; “you’re 
groggy now, Benjamin, and I ’ll quit the room before I 
hear any misbecoming words from you.” 

1 [Neckcloths and kerchiefs made at Barcelona, Spain, were common 
in England in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.] 


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179 


The housekeeper retired, with a manner hut little less 
dignified, as she thought, than the air of the heiress, mut- 
tering, as she drew the door after her, with a noise like 
the report of a musket, the opprobrious terms of “ drunk- 
ard,^ “sot,” and “beast.” 

“Who’s that you say is drunk?” cried Benjamin, 
fiercely, rising and making a movement towards Remark- 
able. “ You talk of mustering yourself with a lady ! — 
you ’re just fit to grumble and find fault. Where the 
devil should you larn behavior and dictionary? in your 
damned Bay of State, ha ? ” 

Benjamin here fell hack in his chair, and soon gave 
vent to certain ominous sounds, which resembled not a 
little the growling of his favorite animal, the hear itself. 
Before, however, he was quite locked — to use the lan- 
guage that would suit the Della Cruscan humor of certain 
refined minds of the present day, “in the arms of Mor- 
pheus,” he spoke aloud, observing due pauses between his 
epithets, the impressive terms of “monkey,” “parrot,” 
“picnic,” “tar- pot,” and “ linguisters. ” 

We shall not attempt to explain his meaning, nor con- 
nect his sentences; and our readers must be satisfied with 
our informing them that they were expressed with all that 
coolness of contempt that a man might well be supposed 
to feel for a monkey. 

Nearly two hours passed in this sleep before the major- 
domo was awakened by the noisy entrance of Richard, 
Major Hartmann, and the master of the mansion. Ben- 
jamin so far rallied his confused faculties, as to shape the 
course of the two former to their respective apartments, 
when he disappeared himself, leaving the task of securing 
the house to him who was most interested in its safety. 
Locks and bars were but little attended to in the early 
day of that settlement; and so soon as Marmaduke had 
given an eye to the enormous fires of his dwelling, he 
retired. With this act of prudence closes the first night 
of our tale. 


180 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Watch {aside). Some treason, masters — 

Yet stand close. 

Shakespeare : Much Ado About Nothing, III. 3. 113. 

It was fortunate for more than one of the bacchanalians 
who left the “Bold Dragoon” late in the evening, that 
the severe cold of the season was becoming rapidly less 
dangerous, as they threaded the different mazes through 
the snow-banks that led to their respective dwellings. 
Thin, driving clouds began towards morning to flit across 
the heavens, and the moon set behind a volume of vapor 
that was impelled furiously towards the north, carrying 
with it the softer atmosphere from the distant ocean. The 
rising sun was obscured by denser and increasing columns 
of clouds, while the southerly wind that rushed up the 
valley brought the never-failing symptoms of a thaw. 

It was quite late in the morning before Elizabeth, ob- 
serving the faint glow which appeared on the eastern 
mountain long after the light of the sun had struck the 
opposite hills, ventured from the house with a view to 
gratify her curiosity with a glance by daylight at the sur- 
rounding objects, before the tardy revelers of the Christ- 
mas Eve should make their appearance at the breakfast- 
table. While she was drawing the folds of her pelisse 
more closely around her form, to guard against a cold that 
was yet great though rapidly yielding, in the small in- 
closure that opened in the rear of the house on a little 
thicket of low pines that were springing up where trees 
of a mightier growth had lately stood, she was surprised 
at the voice of Mr. Jones. 

“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to you, cousin 
Bess ! ” he shouted. “ Ah, ha ! an early riser, I see ; but 
I knew I should steal a march on you. I never was in a 
house yet where I didn’t get the first Christmas greeting 
on every soul in it, man, woman, and child; great and 
small; black, white, and yellow. But stop a minute, till 
I can just slip on my coat; you are about to look at the 


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181 


improvements, I see, which no one can explain so well as 
I, who planned them all. It will be an hour before ’Duke 
and the Major can sleep off Mrs. Hollister’s confounded 
distillations, and so I ’ll come down and go with you.” 

Elizabeth turned, and observed her cousin in his night- 
cap with his head out of his bedroom window, where his 
zeal for preeminence, in defiance of the weather, had im- 
pelled him to thrust it. She laughed, and promising to 
wait for his company, reentered the house, making her 
appearance again, holding in her hand a packet that was 
secured by several large and important seals, just in time 
to meet the gentleman. 

“Come, Bessy, come,” he cried, drawing one of her 
arms through his own; “the snow begins to give, but it 
will bear us yet. Don’t you snuff old Pennsylvania in 
the very air? This is a vile climate, girl; now, at sun- 
set, last evening, it was cold enough to freeze a man’s 
zeal, and that, I can tell you, takes a thermometer near 
zero for me ; then about nine or ten it began to moderate ; 
at twelve it was quite mild, and here all the rest of the 
night I have been so hot, as not to bear a blanket on the 
bed. Holla, Aggy ! — Merry Christmas, Aggy ! — I say, 
do you hear me, you black dog! there ’s a dollar for you; 
and if the gentlemen get up before I come back, do you 
come out and let me know. I wouldn’t have ’Duke get 
the start of me for the worth of your head.” 

The black caught the money from the snow, and pro- 
mising a due degree of watchfulness, he gave the dollar a 
whirl of twenty feet in the air, and catching it as it fell, 
in the palm of his hand, he withdrew to the kitchen to 
exhibit his present, with a heart as light as his face was 
happy in its expression. 

“Oh, rest easy, my dear coz,” said the young lady; “I 
took a look in at my father, who is likely to sleep an 
hour, and, by using due vigilance, you will secure all the 
honors of the season.” 

“Why, ’Duke is your father, Elizabeth; but ’Duke is 
a man who likes to be foremost, even in trifles. Now, 
as for myself, I care for no such things, except in the 


182 


THE PIONEERS 


way of competition ; for a thing which is of no moment in 
itself, may be made of importance in the way of competi- 
tion. So it is with your father — he loves to be first; 
but I only struggle with him as a competitor. ” 

“It’s all very clear, sir,” said Elizabeth; “you would 
not care a fig for distinction if there were no one in the 
world but yourself; but as there happen to be a great 
many others, why, you must struggle with them all — in 
the way of competition.” 

“Exactly so; I see you are a clever girl, Bess, and one 
who does credit to her masters. It was my plan to send 
you to that school; for when your father first mentioned 
the thing, I wrote a private letter for advice to a judicious 
friend in the city, who recommended the very school you 
went to. ’Duke was a little obstinate at first, as usual, but 
when he heard the truth, he was obliged to send you.” 

“Well, a truce to ’Duke’s foibles, sir; he is my father; 
and if you knew what he has been doing for you while 
we were in Albany, you would deal more tenderly with 
his character.” 

“ For me ! ” cried Richard, pausing a moment in his 
walk to reflect. “ Oh, he got the plans of the new Dutch 
meeting-house for me, I suppose; but I care very little 
about it, for a man of a certain kind of talent is seldom 
aided by any foreign suggestions : his own brain is the best 
architect. ” 

“No such thing,” said Elizabeth, looking provokingly 
knowing. 

“No! let me see — perhaps he had my name put in 
the bill for the new turnpike, as a director.” 

“ He might possibly ; but it is not to such an appoint- 
ment that I allude.” 

“Such an appointment!” repeated Mr. Jones, who 
began to fidget with curiosity; “then it is an appoint- 
ment. If it is in the militia, I won’t take it.” 

“No, no, it is not in the militia,” cried Elizabeth, 
showing the packet in her hand, and then drawing it 
back with a coquettish air; “it is an office of both honor 
and emolument.” 


THE PIONEERS 


183 


“ Honor and emolument ! ” echoed Richard, in painful 
suspense; “show me the paper, girl. Say, is it an office 
where there is anything to do ? 99 

“You have hit it, cousin Dickon; it is the executive 
office of the county; at least so said my father, when he 
gave me this packet to offer you as a Christmas-box. 
‘ Surely, if anything will please Dickon, ’ he said, ‘ it 
will be to fill the executive chair of the county.’ 99 

“ Executive chair ! what nonsense ! ” cried the impatient 
gentleman, snatching the packet from her hand; “there 
is no such office in the county. Eh! what! it is, I de- 
clare, a commission, appointing Richard Jones, Esquire, 
sheriff of the county. Well, this is kind in ’Duke, posi- 
tively. I must say ’Duke has a warm heart, and never 

forgets his friends. Sheriff! High Sheriff of ! 

It sounds well, Bess, but it shall execute better. ’Duke 
is a judicious man after all, and knows human nature 
thoroughly. I ’m much obliged to him,” continued Rich- 
ard, using the skirt of his coat unconsciously to wipe his 
eyes; “though I would do as much for him any day, as 
he shall see, if I have an opportunity to perform any of 
the duties of my office on him. It shall he done, cousin 
Bess — it shall be done, I say. How this cursed south 
wind makes one’s eyes water! ” 

“Now, Richard,” said the laughing maiden, “now I 
think you will find something to do. I have often heard 
you complain, of old, that there was nothing to do in this 
new country, while to my eyes it seemed as if everything 
remained to be done.” 

“Do!” echoed Richard* who blew his nose, raised his 
little form to its greatest elevation, and looked serious. 
“ Everything depends on system, girl. I shall sit down 
this afternoon, and systematize the county. I must have 
deputies, you know. I will divide the county into dis- 
tricts, over which I will place my deputies; and I will 
have one for the village, which I will call my home depart- 
ment. Let me see — Oh, Benjamin! yes, Benjamin will 
make a good deputy ; he has been naturalized, and would 
answer admirably, if he could only ride on horseback.” 


184 


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“Yes, Mr. Sheriff,” said his companion; “and as he 
understands ropes so well, he would he very expert, 
should the occasion happen for his services, in another 
way.” 

“No,” interrupted the other, “I flatter myself that no 
man could hang a man better than — that is — ha — oh, 
yes, Benjamin would do extremely well, in such an un- 
fortunate dilemma, if*he could be persuaded to attempt it. 
But I should despair of the thing. I never could induce 
him to hang, or teach him to ride on horseback. I must 
seek another deputy.” 

“ Well, sir, as you have abundant leisure for all ' these 
important affairs, I beg that you will forget that you are 
High Sheriff, and devote some little of your time to gal- 
lantry. Where are the beauties and improvements which 
you were to show me ? ” 

“Where? why, everywhere. Here I have laid out 
some new streets; and when they are opened, and the 
trees felled, and they are all built up, will they not make 
a fine town? Well, ’Duke is a liberal-hearted fellow, 
with all his stubbornness. Yes, yes, I must have at least 
four deputies, besides a jailer.” 

“I see no streets in the direction of our walk,” said 
Elizabeth, “unless you call the short avenues through 
these pine bushes by that name. Surely you do not con- 
template building houses, very soon, in that forest before 
us, and in those swamps ! ” 

“We must run our streets by the compass, coz, and 
disregard trees, hills, ponds, stumps, or, in fact, anything 
but posterity. Such is the will of your father, and your 
father, you know ” — 

“Had you made sheriff, Mr. Jones,” interrupted the 
lady, with a tone that said very plainly to the gentleman, 
that he was touching a forbidden subject. 

“I know it, I know it,” cried Bichard; “and if it 
were in my power, I ’d make ’Duke a king. He is a 
noble-hearted fellow, and would make an excellent king ; 
that is, if he had a good prime minister. But who have 
we here? voices in the bushes; a combination about mis- 


THE PIONEERS 


185 


chief, I ’ll wager my commission. Let ns draw near, and 
examine a little into the matter.” 

During this dialogue, as the parties had kept in motion, 
Richard and his cousin advanced some distance from the 
house into the open space in the rear of the village, 
where, as may be gathered from the conversation, streets 
were planned, and future dwellings contemplated; but 
where, in truth, the only mark of improvement that was 
to be seen was a neglected clearing along the skirt of a 
dark forest of mighty pines, over which the bushes or 
sprouts of the same tree had sprung up to a height that 
interspersed the fields of snow with little thickets of ever- 
green. The rushing of the wind, as it whistled through 
the tops of these mimic trees, prevented the footsteps of 
the pair from being heard, while the branches concealed 
their persons. Thus aided, the listeners drew nigh to 
a spot where the young hunter, Leather-Stocking, and 
the Indian chief were collected in an earnest consul- 
tation. The former was urgent in his manner, and seemed 
to think the subject of deep importance, while Natty 
appeared to listen with more than his usual attention to 
what the other was saying. Mohegan stood a little on 
one side, with his head sunken on his chest, his hair fall- 
ing forward, so as to conceal most of his features, and 
his whole attitude expressive of deep dejection, if not of 
shame. 

“Let us withdraw,” whispered Elizabeth; “we are in- 
truders, and can have no right to listen to the secrets of 
these men.” 

“No right!” returned Richard, a little impatiently, in 
the same tone, and drawing her arm so forcibly through 
his own as to prevent her retreat; “you forget, cousin, 
that it is my duty to preserve the peace of the county, 
and see the laws executed. These wanderers frequently 
commit depredations; though I do not think John would 
do anything secretly. Poor fellow! he was quite boozy 
last night, and hardly seems to be over it yet. Let us 
draw nigher, and hear what they say.” 

Notwithstanding the lady’s reluctance, Richard, stimu- 


186 


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lated doubtless by his nice sense of duty, prevailed; and 
they were soon so near as distinctly to hear sounds. 

“The bird must be had,” said Natty, “by fair means 
or foul. Heigho! I’ve known the time, lad, when the 
wild turkeys wasn’t over scarce in the country; though 
you must go into the Yirginy gaps, if you want them 
now. To be sure, there is a different taste to a partridge, 
and a well-fatted turkey; though, to my eating, beaver’s 
tail and bear’s hams makes the best of food. But then 
every one has his own appetite. I gave the last farthing, 
all to that shilling, to the French trader, this very morn- 
ing as I came through the town, for powder; so, as you 
have nothing, we can have but one shot for it. I know 
that Billy Kirby is out, and means to have a pull of the 
trigger at that very turkey. John has a true eye for a 
single fire, and somehow my hand shakes so whenever I 
have to do anything extrornary, that I often lose my aim. 
Now, when I killed the she-bear this fall, with her cubs, 
though they were so mighty ravenous, I knocked them 
over one at a shot, and loaded while I dodged the trees 
in the bargain — but this is a very different thing, Mr. 
Oliver. ” 

“This,” cried the young man with an accent that 
sounded as if he took a bitter pleasure in his poverty, 
while he held a shilling up before his eyes, “this is all 
the treasure that I possess — this and my rifle! Now, 
indeed, I have become a man of the woods, and must 
place my sole dependence on the chase. Come, Natty, 
let us stake the last penny for the bird; with your aim, 
it cannot fail to be successful.” 

“I would rather it should be John, lad; my heart 
jumps into my mouth, because you set your mind so 
much on’t; and I’m sartain that I shall miss the bird. 
Them Indians can shoot one time as well as another; no- 
thing ever troubles them. I say, John, here ’s a shilling; 
take my rifle, and get a shot at the big turkey they ’ve 
put up at the stump. Mr. Oliver is over anxious for the 
creatur’ and I ’m sure to do nothing when I have over 
anxiety about it.” 


THE PIONEERS 


187 


The Indian turned his head gloomily, and, after look- 
ing keenly for a moment in profound silence at his com- 
panions, he replied: — 

“When John was young, eyesight was not straighter 
than his bullet. The Mingo squaws cried out at the 
sound of his rifle. The Mingo warriors were made 
squaws. When did he ever shoot twice! The eagle 
went above the clouds, when he passed the wigwam of 
Chingachgook ; his feathers were plenty with the women. 
But see,” he said, raising his voice from the low, mourn- 
ful tones, in which he had spoken, to a pitch of keen ex- 
citement, and stretching forth both hands, — “ they shake 
like a deer at the wolf’s howl. Is John old? When 
was a Mohican a squaw, with seventy winters! No! the 
white man brings old age with him — rum is his toma- 
hawk ! ” 

“ Why then do you use it, old man ? 99 exclaimed the 
young hunter; “why will one, so noble by nature, aid the 
devices of the devil, by making himself a beast ! ” 

“Beast! is John a beast?” replied the Indian slowly; 
“yes; you say no lie, child of the Fire-eater! John is 
a beast. The smokes were once few in these hills. The 
deer would lick the hand of a white man, and the birds 
rest on his head. They were strangers to him. My 
fathers came from the shores of the salt lake. They fled 
before rum. They came to their grandfather, and they 
lived in peace; or, when they did raise the hatchet, it 
was to strike it into the brain of a Mingo. They gath- 
ered around the council-fire, and what they said was done. 
Then John was the man. But warriors and traders with 
light eyes followed them. One brought the long knife, 
and one brought rum. They were more than the pines 
on the mountains; and they broke up the councils, and 
took the lands. The evil spirit was in their jugs, and 
they let him loose. Yes, yes — you say no lie, Young 
Eagle; John is a Christian beast.” 

“Forgive me, old warrior,” cried the youth, grasping 
his hand: “I should be the last to reproach you. The 
curses of Heaven light on the cupidity that has destroyed 


188 


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such a race. Remember, John, that I am of your family, 
and it is now my greatest pride.” 

The muscles of Mohegan relaxed a little, and he said, 
more mildly : — 

“You are a Delaware, my son; your words are not 
heard; John cannot shoot.” 

“I thought that lad had Indian blood in him,” whis- 
pered Richard, “by the awkward way he handled my 
horses last night. You see, coz, they never use harness. 
But the poor fellow shall have two shots at the turkey, 
if he wants it, for I ’ll give him another shilling myself 

— though, perhaps, I had better offer to shoot for him. 
They have got up their Christmas sports, I find, in the 
hushes yonder, where you hear the laughter; though it is 
a queer taste this chap has for turkey; not but what it 
is good eating, too.” 

“Hold, cousin Richard,” exclaimed Elizabeth, clinging 
to his arm, “would it be delicate to offer a shilling to 
that gentleman ? ” 

“Gentleman again! do you think a half-breed, like 
him, will refuse money 1 No, no, girl, he will take the 
shilling; aye! and even rum too, notwithstanding he 
moralizes so much about it. But I ’ll give the lad a 
chance for his turkey, for that Billy Kirby is one of the 
best marksmen in the country; that is, if we except the 

— the gentleman.” 

“Then,” said Elizabeth, who found her strength un- 
equal to her will, “then, sir, I will speak.” She ad- 
vanced, with an air of determination, in front of her 
cousin, and entered the little circle of bushes that sur- 
rounded the trio of hunters. Her appearance startled the 
youth, who at first made an unequivocal motion towards 
retiring, but, recollecting himself, bowled, by lifting his 
cap, and resumed his attitude of leaning on his rifle. 
Neither Natty nor Mohegan betrayed any emotion, though 
the appearance of Elizabeth was so entirely unexpected. 

“I find,” she said, “that the old Christmas sport of 
shooting the turkey is yet in use among you. I feel in- 
clined to try my chance for a bird. Which of you will 


THE PIONEERS 


189 


take this money, and, after paying my fee, give me the 
aid of his rifle ? ” 

“ Is this a sport for a lady ? ” exclaimed the young 
hunter, with an emphasis that could not well be mistaken, 
and with a rapidity that showed he spoke without consult- 
ing anything but feeling. 

“Why not, sir? If it he inhuman, the sin is not con- 
fined to one sex only. But I have my humor as well as 
others. I ask not your assistance; but” — turning to 
Natty, and dropping a dollar in his hand — “this old vet- 
eran of the forest will not he so ungallant as to refuse 
one fire for a lady.” 

Leather-Stocking dropped the money into his pouch, 
and throwing up the end of his rifle, he freshened his 
priming; and, first laughing in his usual manner, he 
threw the piece over his shoulder, and said : — 

“If Billy Kirby don’t get the bird before me, and the 
Frenchman’s powder don’t hang fire this damp morning, 
you ’ll see as fine a turkey dead, in a few minutes, as 
ever was eaten in the Judge’s shanty. I have knowed 
the Dutch women, on the Mohawk and Schoharie, count 
greatly on coming to the merry-makings — and so, lad, 
you shouldn’t be short with the lady. Come, let us go 
forward, for if we wait, the finest bird will be gone.” 

“But I have a right before you, Natty, and shall try 
my own luck first. You will excuse me, Miss Temple; 
I have much reason to wish that bird, and may seem un- 
gallant, hut I must claim my privileges.” 

“Claim anything that is justly your own, sir,” re- 
turned the lady; “we are both adventurers; and this is 
my knight. I trust my fortune to his hand and eye. 
Lead on, Sir Leather-Stocking, and we will follow.” 

Natty, who seemed pleased with the frank address of 
the young and beauteous Elizabeth, who had so singularly 
intrusted him with such a commission, returned the bright 
smile with which she had addressed him by his own pe- 
culiar mark of mirth, and moved across the snow towards 
the spot whence the sounds of boisterous mirth proceeded 
with the long strides of a hunter. His companions fol- 


190 


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lowed in silence, the youth easting frequent and uneasy 
glances towards Elizabeth, who was detained by a motion 
from Richard. 

“I should think, Miss Temple, ” he said, so soon as 
the others were out of hearing, “that if you really wished 
a turkey you would not have taken a stranger for the 
office, and such a one as Leather-Stocking. But I can 
hardly believe that you are serious, for I have fifty at this 
moment shut up in the coops, in every stage of fat, so 
that you might choose any quality you pleased. There 
are six that I am trying an experiment on, by giving 
them brickbats with ” — 

“Enough, cousin Dickon,” interrupted the lady; “I 
do wish the bird, and it is because I so wish, that I com- 
missioned this Mr. Leather- Stocking.” 

“Did you ever hear of the great shot that I made at 
the wolf, cousin Elizabeth, who was carrying off your 
father’s sheep?” said Richard, drawing himself up into 
an air of displeasure. “ He had the sheep on his hack ; 
and had the head of the wolf been on the other side, I 
should have killed him dead ; as it was ” — 

“ You killed the sheep, — I know it all, dear coz. But 

would it have been decorous for the High Sheriff of 

to mingle in such sports as these ? ” 

“ Surely you did not think that I intended actually to 
fire with my own hands?” said Mr. Jones. “But let 
us follow, and see the shooting. There is no fear of 
anything unpleasant occurring to a female in this new 
country, especially to your father’s daughter, and in my 
presence. ” 

“My father’s daughter fears nothing, sir, more espe- 
cially when escorted by the highest executive officer in 
the county.” 

She took his arm, and he led her through the mazes of 
the hushes to the spot where most of the young men of 
the village were collected for the sports of shooting a 
Christmas match, and whither Natty and his companions 
had already preceded them. 


THE PIONEERS 


191 


CHAPTER XVII. 

I guess, by all this quaint array, 

The burghers hold their sports to-day. 

Walter Scott : The Lady of the Lake , V. xx. 

The ancient amusement of shooting ‘the Christmas tur- 
key is one of the few sports that the settlers of a new 
country seldom or never neglect to observe. It was con- 
nected with the daily practices of a people who often laid 
aside the axe or the scythe to seize the rifle, as the deer 
glided through the forests they were felling, or the bear 
entered their rough meadows to scent the air of a clearing, 
and to scan, with a look of sagacity, the progress of the 
invader. 

On the present occasion, the usual amusement of the 
day had been a little hastened, in order to allow a fair 
opportunity to Mr. Grant, whose exhibition was not less 
a treat to the young sportsmen than the one which en- 
gaged their present attention. The owner of the birds 
was a free black, who had prepared for the occasion a col- 
lection of game that was admirably qualified to inflame 
the appetite of an epicure, and was well adapted to the 
means and skill of the different competitors, who were of 
all ages. He had offered to the younger and more hum- 
ble marksmen divers birds of an inferior quality, and 
some shooting had already taken place, much to the pecu- 
niary advantage of the sable owner of the game. The 
order of the sports was extremely simple, and well under- 
stood. The bird was fastened by a string to the stump of 
a large pine, the side of which, towards the point where 
the marksmen were placed, had been flattened with an 
axe, in order that it might serve the purpose of a target 
by which the merit of each individual might be ascer- 
tained. The distance between the stump and shooting- 
stand was one hundred measured yards: a foot more or a 
foot less being thought an invasion of the right of one of 
the parties. The negro affixed his own price to every 
bird, and the terms of the chance; but when these were 


192 


THE PIONEERS 


once established, he was obliged by the strict principles 
of public justice that prevailed in the country to admit 
any adventurer who might offer. 

The throng consisted of some twenty or thirty young 
men, most of whom had rifles, and a collection of all the 
boys in the village, The little urchins, clad in coarse but 
warm garments, stood gathered around the more distin- 
guished marksmen, with their hands stuck under their 
waistbands, listening eagerly to the boastful stories of skill 
that had been exhibited on former occasions, and were 
already emulating in their hearts these wonderful deeds 
in gunnery. 

The chief speaker was the man who had been mentioned 
by Natty as Billy Kirby. This fellow, whose occupation, 
when he did labor, was that of clearing lands, or chopping 
jobs, was of great stature, and carried, in his very air, the 
index of his character. He was a noisy, boisterous, reck- 
less lad, whose good-natured eye contradicted the blunt- 
ness and bullying tenor of his speech. For weeks he 
would lounge around the taverns of the county, in a state 
of perfect idleness, or doing small jobs for his liquor and 
his meals, and caviling with applicants about the prices of 
his labor: frequently preferring idleness to an abatement 
of a tittle of his independence, or a cent in his wages. 
But when these embarrassing points were satisfactorily 
arranged, he would shoulder his axe and his rifle, slip his 
arms through the straps of his pack, and enter the woods 
with the tread of a Hercules. His first object was to 
learn his limits, round which he would pace, occasionally 
freshening, with a blow of his axe, the marks on the bound- 
ary trees; and then he would proceed with an air of great 
deliberation, to the centre of his premises, and, throwing 
aside his superfluous garments, measure with a knowing 
eye one or two of the nearest trees that were towering 
apparently into the very clouds as he gazed upwards. 
Commonly selecting one of the most noble for the first 
trial of his power, he would approach it with a listless 
air, whistling a low tune and wielding his axe with a 
certain flourish, not unlike the salutes of a fencing master, 


THE PIONEERS 


193 


he would strike a light blow into the hark, and measure 
his distance. The pause that followed was ominous of 
the fall of the forest which had flourished there for cen- 
turies. The heavy and brisk .blows that he struck were 
soon succeeded by the thundering report of the tree, as 
it came, first crackling and threatening, with the separa- 
tion of its own last ligaments, then threshing and tearing 
with its branches the tops of its surrounding brethren, 
and finally meeting the ground with a shock but little in- 
ferior to an earthquake. From that moment the sounds 
of the axe were ceaseless, while the falling of the trees 
was like a distant cannonading; and the daylight broke 
into the depths of the woods with the suddenness of a 
winter morning. 

For days, weeks, nay months, Billy Kirby would toil 
with an ardor that evinced his native spirit, and with 
an effect that seemed magical, — until, his chopping be- 
ing ended, his stentorian lungs could be heard emitting 
sounds, as he called to his patient oxen, which rang 
through the hills like the cries of an alarm. He had 
been often heard, on a mild summer’s evening, a long mile 
across the vale of Templeton; when the echoes from the 
mountains would take up his cries, until they died away 
in feeble sounds from the distant rocks that overhung the 
lake. His piles, or to use the language of the country, 
his logging, ended, with a dispatch that could only ac- 
company his dexterity and Herculean strength, the job- 
ber would collect together his implements of labor, light 
the heaps of timber, and march away under the blaze of 
the prostrate forest, like the conqueror of some city, who, 
having first prevailed over his adversary, applies the torch 
as the finishing blow to his conquest. For a long time 
Billy Kirby would then be seen, sauntering around the 
taverns, the rider of scrub-races, the bully of cock-fights, 
and not unfrequently the hero of such sports as the one 
in hand. 

Between him and the Leather-Stocking there had long 
existed a jealous rivalry on the point of skill with the 
rifle. Notwithstanding the long practice of Natty it was 


194 


THE PIONEERS 


commonly supposed that the steady nerves and quick eye 
of the wood-chopper rendered him his equal. The com- 
petition had, however, been confined hitherto to boastings, 
and comparisons made from their success in various hunt- 
ing excursions; but this was the first time that they had 
ever come in open collision. A good deal of higgling 
about the price of the choicest bird had taken place be- 
tween Billy Kirby and its owner before Natty and his 
companions rejoined the sportsmen. It had, however, 
been settled at one shilling 1 a shot, which was the high- 
est sum ever exacted, the black taking care to protect 
himself from losses as much as possible, by the conditions 
of the sport. The turkey was already fastened at the 
“mark,” but its body was entirely hid by the surrounding 
snow, nothing being visible but its red swelling head and 
its long neck. If the bird was injured by any bullet that 
struck below the snow, it was to continue the property of 
its present owner; but if a feather was touched in a visi- 
ble part, the animal became the prize of the successful 
adventurer. 

These terms were loudly proclaimed by the negro, who 
was seated in the snow, in a somewhat hazardous vicinity 
to his favorite bird, when Elizabeth and her cousin ap- 
proached the noisy sportsmen. The sounds of mirth and 
contention sensibly lowered at this unexpected visit; but, 
after a moment’s pause, the curious interest exhibited in 
the face of the young lady, together with her smiling air, 
restored the freedom of the morning; though it was some- 
what chastened, both in language and vehemence, by the 
presence of such a spectator. 

1 Before the Revolution each province had its own money of account, 
though neither coined any but copper pieces. In New York the Spanish 
dollar -was divided into eight shillings, each of the value of a fraction 
more than sixpence sterling. At present the Union has provided a deci- 
mal system with coins to represent it. [At the close of the Revolution, 
there was a very wide diversity in the coinage and in the respective 
value of pieces having the same name. The entire silver and gold coin 
of the land was from foreign mints. English, French, Spanish, and even 
German coins were in circulation. A dollar in New England or Virginia 
meant six shillings; in New York it meant eight shillings.] 


THE PIONEERS 


195 


“Stand out of the way there, boys!” cried the wood- 
chopper, who was placing himself at the shooting point, 
“ stand out of the way, you little rascals, or I will shoot 
through you. Now, Brom, take leave of your turkey.” 

“Stop!” cried the young hunter; “I am a candidate 
for a chance. Here is my shilling, Brom; I wish a shot 
too. ” 

“You may wish it in welcome,” cried Kirby, “but if 
I ruffle the gobbler’s feathers, how are you to get it? Is 
money so plenty in your deerskin pocket, that you pay 
for a chance that you may never have ? ” 

“How know you, sir, how plenty money is in my 
pocket?” said the youth fiercely. “Here is my shilling, 
Brom, and I claim a right to shoot.” 

“Don’t be crabbed, my boy,” said the other, who was 
very coolly fixing his flint, “They say you have a hole 
in your left shoulder, yourself : so I think Brom may give 
you a fire for half price. It will take a keen one to hit 
that bird, I can tell you, my lad, even if I give you a 
chance, which is what I have no mind to do.” 

“Don’t be boasting, Billy Kirby,” said Natty, throw- 
ing the breech of his rifle into the snow, and leaning on 
its barrel; “you ’ll get but one shot at the creatur’, for if 
the lad misses his aim, which wouldn’t be a wonder if 
he did, with his arm so stiff and sore, you ’ll find a good 
piece and an old eye coming a’ ter you. Maybe it ’s true 
that I can’t shoot as I used to could, but a hundred yards 
is a short distance for a long rifle.” 

“ What, old Leather-Stocking, are you out this morn- 
ing?” cried his reckless opponent. “Well, fair play ’s a 
jewel. I’ve the lead of you, old fellow; so here goes 
for a dry throat or a good dinner.” 

The countenance of the negro evinced not only all the 
interest which his pecuniary adventure might occasion, 
but also the keen excitement that the sport produced in 
the others, though with a very different wish as to the 
result. While the wood-chopper was slowly and steadily 
raising his rifle, he bawled : — 

“Fair play, Billy Kirby — stand back — make ’em 


196 


THE PIONEERS 


stand back, boys — gib a nigger fair play ; poss-np, gob- 
bler; shake a head, fool; don’t you see ’em taking aim?” 

These cries, which were intended as much to distract 
the attention of the marksman as for anything else, were 
fruitless. 

The nerves of the wood-chopper were not so easily 
shaken, and he took his aim with the utmost deliberation. 
Stillness prevailed for a moment, and he fired. The head 
of the turkey was seen to dash on one side, and its wings 
were spread in momentary fluttering; but it settled itself 
down calmly into its bed of snow, and glanced its eyes 
uneasily around. For a time long enough to draw a deep 
breath not a sound was heard. The silence was then 
broken by the noise of the negro, who laughed, and shook 
his body, with all kinds of antics, — rolling over in the 
snow in the excess of delight. 

“Well done, gobbler,” he cried, jumping up and affect- 
ing to embrace his bird; “I tell ’em to poss-up, and you 
see ’em dodge. Gib anoder shillin’, Billy, and hab anoder 
shot.” 

“No — the shot is mine,” said the young hunter; 
“you have my money already. Leave the mark, and let 
me try my luck.” 

“Ah! it ’s but money thrown away, lad,” said Leather- 
Stocking. “A turkey’s head and neck is but a small 
mark for a new hand and a lame shoulder. You ’d best 
let me take the fire, and maybe we can make some settle- 
ment with the lady about the bird.” 

“The chance is mine,” said the young hunter. “Clear 
the ground, that I may take it.” 

The discussions and disputes concerning the last shot 
were now abating, it having been determined that if the 
turkey’s head had been anywhere but just where it was 
at the moment, the bird must certainly have been killed. 
There was not much excitement produced by the prepara- 
tions of the youth, who proceeded in a hurried manner 
to take his aim, and was in the act of pulling the trigger, 
when he was stopped by Natty. 

“Your hands shakes, lad,” he said, “and you seem 


THE PIONEERS 


197 


over eager. Bullet wounds are apt to weaken flesh, and 
to my judgment, you ’ll not shoot so well as in common. 
If you will fire, you should shoot quick, before there is 
time to shake off the aim.” 

“Fair play,” again shouted the negro; “fair play — 
gib a nigger fair play. What right ’a’ Nat Bumppo ad- 
vise a young man? Let ’em shoot — clear a ground.” 

The youth fired with great rapidity, but no motion was 
made by the turkey ; and when the examiners for the hall 
returned from the “mark,” they declared that he had 
missed the stump. 

Elizabeth observed the change in his countenance, and 
could not help feeling surprised, that one so evidently 
superior to his companions should feel a trifling loss so 
sensibly. 

But her own champion was now preparing to enter the 
lists. 

The mirth of Brom, which had been again excited, 
though in a much smaller degree than before, by the fail- 
ure of the second adventurer, vanished the instant Natty 
took his stand. His skin became mottled with large 
brown spots, that fearfully sullied the lustre of his native 
ebony, while his enormous lips gradually compressed around 
two rows of ivory that had hitherto been shining in his 
visage, like pearls set in jet. His nostrils, at all times the 
most conspicuous features of his face, dilated, until they 
covered the greater part of the diameter of his countenance ; 
while his brown and bony hands unconsciously grasped the 
snowcrust near him, the excitement of the moment com- 
pletely overcoming his native dread of cold. 

While these indications of apprehension were exhibited 
in the sable owner of the turkey, the man who gave rise 
to this extraordinary emotion was as calm and collected 
as if there was not to be a single spectator of his skill. 

“I was down in the Dutch settlements on the Schoha- 
rie,” said Natty, carefully removing the leather guard from 
the lock of his rifle, “just before the breaking out of the 
last war, and there was a shooting-match among the boys; 
so I took a hand. I think I opened a good many Dutch 


198 


THE PIONEERS 


eyes that day; for I won the powder-horn, three bars of 
lead, and a pound of as good powder as ever flashed in 
pan. Lord ! how they did swear in Jarman ! They did 
tell me of one drunken Dutchman who said he ’d have 
the life of me before I got back to the lake agin. But 
if he had put his rifle to his shoulder with evil intent, 
God would have punished him for it*; and even if the 
Lord didn’t, and he had missed his aim, I know one that 
would have given him as good as he sent, and better too, 
if good shooting could come into the ’ count. ” 

By this time the old hunter was ready for his business, 
and throwing his right leg far behind him, and stretch- 
ing his left arm along the barrel of his piece, he raised 
it towards the bird. Every eye glanced rapidly from the 
marksman to the mark; but at the moment when each ear 
was expecting the report of the rifle, they were disap- 
pointed by the ticking sound of the flint. 

“ A snap, a snap ! ” shouted the negro, springing from 
his crouching posture like a madman, before his bird. “ A 
snap good as fire — Natty Bumppo gun he snap — Natty 
Bumppo miss a turkey ! ” 

“Natty Bumppo hit a nigger,’’ said the indignant old 
hunter, “if you don’t get out of the way, Brom. It’s 
contrary to the reason of the thing, boy, that a snap 
should count for a fire, when one is nothing more than a 
fire-stone striking a steel pan, and the other is sudden 
death; so get out of my way, boy, and let me show Billy 
Kirby how to shoot a Christmas turkey.” 

“ Gib a nigger fair play ! ” cried the black, who contin- 
ued resolutely to maintain his post, and making that ap- 
peal to the justice of his auditors which the degraded 
condition of his caste so naturally suggested. “ Eberybody 
know dat snap as good as fire. Leab it to Massa Jone — 
leab it to lady.” 

“Sartain,” said the wood-chopper; “it’s the law of 
the game in this part of the country, Leather-Stocking. 
If you fire agin you must pay up the other shilling. I 
b’lieve I’ll try luck once more myself; so, Brom, here’s 
my money, and I take the next fire.” 


THE PIONEERS 


199 


“It ’s likely you know the laws of the woods better than 
I do, Billy Kirby,” returned Natty. “You come in with 
the settlers, with an ox-goad in your hand, and I come 
in with moccasins on my feet, and with a good rifle on my 
shoulders, so long back as afore the old war. Which is 
likely to know the best 1 I say no man need tell me that 
snapping is as good as firing when I pull the trigger.” 

“Leab it to Massa Jone,” said the alarmed negro; “he 
know eberyting.” 

This appeal to the knowledge of Richard was too flat- 
tering to be unheeded. He therefore advanced a little 
from the spot whither the delicacy of Elizabeth had in- 
duced her to withdraw, and gave the following opinion, 
with the gravity that the subject and his own rank de- 
manded: — 

“There seems to be a difference in opinion,” he said, 
“on the subject of Nathaniel Bumppo’s right to shoot at 
Abraham Freeborn’s turkey, without the said Nathaniel 
paying one shilling for the privilege.” This fact was 
too evident to be denied, and after pausing a moment, 
that the audience might digest his premises, Richard pro- 
ceeded. “It seems proper that I should decide this ques- 
tion, as I am bound to preserve the peace of the county; 
and men with deadly weapons in their hands should not 
be heedlessly left to contention, and their own malignant 
passions. It appears that there was no agreement, either 
in writing or in words, on the disputed point; therefore 
we must reason from analogy, which is, as it were, com- 
paring one thing with another. Now, in duels, where 
both parties shoot, it is generally the rule that a snap is 
a fire; and if such is the rule, where the party has a 
right to fire back again, it seems to me unreasonable to 
say, that a man may stand snapping at a defenseless tur- 
key all day. I therefore am of opinion that Nathaniel 
Bumppo has lost his chance, and must pay another shil- 
ling before he renews his right.” 

As this opinion came from so high a quarter, and was 
delivered with effect, it silenced all murmurs — for the 
whole of the spectators had begun to take sides with great 
warmth, — except from the Leather-Stocking himself. 


200 


THE PIONEERS 


“I think Miss Elizabeth’s thoughts should be taken,” 
said Natty. “I’ve known the squaws give very good 
counsel when the Indians have been dumfounded. If 
she says that I ought to lose, I agree to give it up.” 

“Then I adjudge you to he a loser for this time,” said 
Miss Temple; “hut pay your money and renew your 
chance; unless Brom will sell me the bird for a dollar. 
I will give him the money, and save the life of the poor 
victim. ” 

This proposition was evidently hut little relished by 
any of the listeners, even the negro feeling the evil excite- 
ment of the chances. In the meanwhile, as Billy Kirby 
was preparing himself for another shot, Natty left the 
stand, with an extremely dissatisfied manner, muttering : — 

“There has n’t been such a thing as a good flint sold at 
the foot of the lake since the Indian traders used to come 
into the country; and if a body should go into the flats 
along the streams in the hills to hunt for such a thing, 
it ’s ten to one hut they will he all covered up with the 
plough. Heigho ! it seems to me that just as the game 
grows scarce, and a body wants the best ammunition to 
get a livelihood, everything that ’s had falls on him, like 
a judgment. But I ’ll change the stone, for Billy Kirby 
hasn’t the eye for such a mark, I know.” 

The wood-chopper seemed now entirely sensible that 
his reputation depended on his care; nor did he neglect 
any means to insure success. He drew up his rifle, and 
renewed his aim again and again, still appearing reluctant 
to fire. No sound was heard from even Brom, during 
these portentous movements, until Kirby discharged his 
piece, with the same want of success as before. Then, 
indeed, the shouts of the negro rang through the bushes, 
and sounded among the trees of the neighboring forest 
like the outcries of a tribe of Indians. He laughed, roll- 
ing his head first on one side, then on the other, until 
nature seemed exhausted with mirth. He danced until 
his legs were wearied with motion, in the snow; and, in 
short, he exhibited all that violence of joy that character- 
izes the mirth of a thoughtless negro. 


THE PIONEERS 


201 


The wood-chopper had exerted all his art, and felt a pro- 
portionate degree of disappointment at the failure. He 
first examined the bird with the utmost attention, and 
more than once suggested that he had touched its fea- 
thers; but the voice of the multitude was against him, for 
it felt disposed to listen to the often repeated cries of the 
black, to “Gib a nigger fair play.” 

Finding it impossible to make out a title to the bird, 
Kirby turned fiercely to the black, and said : — 

“ Shut your oven, you crow ! Where is the man that 
can hit a turkey’s head at a hundred yards? I was a 
fool for trying. You need n’t make an uproar, like a 
falling pine-tree, about it. Show me the man who can 
do it.” 

“Look this-a-way, Billy Kirby,” said Leather- Stocking, 
“and let them clear the mark, and I ’ll show you a man 
who ’s made better shots afore now, and that when he ’s 
been hard pressed by the savages and wild beasts.” 

“Perhaps there is one whose rights come before ours, 
Leather-Stocking,” said Miss Temple; “if so, we will 
waive our privilege.” 

“If it be me that you have reference to,” said the 
young hunter, “I shall decline another chance. My 
shoulder is yet weak, I find.” 

Elizabeth regarded his manner, and thought that she 
could discern a tinge on his cheek that spoke the shame 
of conscious poverty. She said no more, but suffered her 
own champion to make a trial. Although Natty Bumppo 
had certainly made hundreds of more momentous shots at 
his enemies or his game, yet he never exerted himself 
more to excel. He raised his piece three several times: 
once to get his range; once to calculate his distance; and 
once because the bird, alarmed by the death-like stillness, 
turned its head quickly to examine its foes. But the 
fourth time he fired. The smoke, the report, and the 
momentary shock, prevented most of the spectators from 
instantly knowing the result; but Elizabeth, when she 
saw her champion drop the end of his rifle in the snow 
and open his mouth in one of its silent laughs, and then 


202 


THE PIONEEKS 


proceed very coolly to recharge his piece, knew that he 
had been successful. The boys rushed to the mark, and 
lifted the turkey on high, lifeless, and with nothing but 
the remnant of a head. 

“Bring in the creatur-’,” said Leather-Stocking, “and 
put it at the feet of the lady. I was her deputy in the 
matter, and the bird is her property. ” 

“And a good deputy you have proved yourself,” re- 
turned Elizabeth ; “ so good, cousin Bichard, that I would 
advise you to remember his qualities.” She paused, and 
the gayety that beamed on her face gave place to a more 
serious earnestness. She even blushed a little as she 
turned to the young hunter, and, with the charm of a 
woman’s manner, added, “But it was only to see an ex- 
hibition of the far-famed skill of Leather-Stocking, that I 
tried my fortunes. Will you, sir, accept the bird as a 
small peace-offering for the hurt that prevented your own 
success 1 ” 

The expression with which the youth received this 
present was indescribable. He appeared to yield to the 
blandishment of her air in opposition to a strong inward 
impulse to the contrary. He bowed, and raised the vic- 
tim silently from her feet, but continued silent. 

Elizabeth handed the black a piece of silver as a remu- 
neration for his loss, which had some effect in again un- 
bending his muscles, and then expressed to her companion 
her readiness to return homeward. 

“Wait a minute, cousin Bess,” cried Bichard; “there 
is an uncertainty about the rules of this sport that it is 
proper I should remove. If you will appoint a commit- 
tee, gentlemen, to wait on me this morning, I will draw 
up in writing a set of regulations” — he stopped, with 
some indignation, for at that instant a hand was laid 
familiarly on the shoulder of the High Sheriff of . 

“A Merry Christmas to you, cousin Dickon,” said 
Judge Temple, who had approached the party unper- 
ceived: “I must have a vigilant eye to my daughter, sir, 
if you are to be seized daily with these gallant fits. I 
admire the taste which would introduce a lady to such 
scenes ! ” 


THE PIONEERS 


203 


“It is her own perversity, ’Duke,” cried the disap- 
pointed Sheriff, who felt the loss of the first salutation as 
grievously as many a man would a much greater misfor- 
tune; “and I must say that she comes honestly by it. I 
led her out to show her the improvements, but away she 
scampered, through the snow, at the first sound of fire- 
arms, the same as if she had been brought up in a camp, 
instead of a first-rate hoarding-school. I do think, Judge 
Temple, that such dangerous amusements should be sup- 
pressed by statute: nay, I doubt whether they are not 
already indictable at common law.” 

“Well, sir, as you are Sheriff of the county, it becomes 
your duty to examine into the matter,” returned the smil- 
ing Marmaduke. “I perceive that Bess has executed her 
commission, and I hope it met with a favorable recep- 
tion.” Bichard glanced his eye at the packet which he 
held in his hand, and the slight anger produced by disap- 
pointment vanished instantly. 

“Ah! ’Duke, my dear cousin,” he said, “step a little 
on one side; I have something I would say to you.” 
Marmaduke complied, and the Sheriff led him to a little 
distance in the bushes, and continued: “First, ’Duke, 
let me thank you for your friendly interest with the 
Council and the Governor, without which, I am confident 
that the greatest merit would avail but little. But we 
are sisters’ children — we are sisters’ children; and you 
may use me like one of your horses; ride me or drive 
me, ’Duke, I am wholly yours. But in my humble opin- 
ion, this young companion of Leather-Stocking requires 
looking after. He has a very dangerous propensity for 
turkey. ” 

“Leave him to my management, Dickon,” said the 
Judge, “and I will cure his appetite by indulgence. It 
is with him that I would speak. Let us rejoin the 
sportsmen. ” 


204 


TEE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


Poor wretch ! the mother that him bare, 

If she had been in presence there, 

In his wan face, and sunburnt hair, 

She had not known her child. 

Walter Scott : Marmion, I. xxviii. 


It diminished, in no degree, the effect produced by 
the conversation which passed between Judge Temple and 
the young hunter, that the former took the arm of his 
daughter and drew it through his own, when he advanced 
from the spot whither Richard had led him to that where 
the youth was standing, leaning on his rifle and contem- 
plating the dead bird at his feet. The presence of Mar- 
maduke did not interrupt the sports, which were resumed 
by loud and clamorous disputes concerning the conditions 
of a chance that involved the life of a bird of much infe- 
rior quality to the last. Leather- Stocking and Mohegan 
had alone drawn aside to their youthful companion ; and, 
although in the immediate vicinity of such a throng, the 
following conversation was heard only by those who were 
interested in it. 

“I have greatly injured you, Mr. Edwards,” said the 
Judge ; but the sudden and inexplicable start, with which 
the person spoken to received this unexpected address, 
caused him to pause a moment. As no answer was given, 
and the strong emotion exhibited in the countenance of 
the youth gradually passed away, he continued, “But, for- 
tunately, it is in some measure in my power to compen- 
sate you for what I have done. My kinsman, Richard 
Jones, has received an appointment that will in future 
deprive me of his assistance, and leaves me, just now, 
destitute of one who might greatly aid me with his pen. 
Your manner, notwithstanding appearances, is a sufficient 
proof of your education, nor will thy shoulder suffer thee 
to labor, for some time to come.” (Marmaduke insensi- 
bly relapsed into the language of the Eriends as he grew 
warm.) “My doors are open to thee, my young friend, 


THE PIONEERS 


205 


for in this infant country we harbor no suspicions: little 
offering to tempt the cupidity of the evil disposed. Be- 
come my assistant, for at least a season, and receive such 
compensation as thy services will deserve.” 

There was nothing in the manner or the offer of the 
Judge to justify the reluctance, amounting nearly to 
loathing, with which the youth listened to his speech: 
hut after a powerful effort for self-command, he replied : — 

“I would serve you, sir, or any other man, for an hon- 
est support, for I do not affect to conceal that my necessi- 
ties are very great, even beyond what appearances would 
indicate ; but I am fearful that such new duties would in- 
terfere too much with more important business: so that I 
must decline your offer, and depend on my rifle, as before, 
for subsistence.” 

Richard here took occasion to whisper to the young 
lady, who had shrunk a little from the foreground of the 
picture : — 

“This, you see, cousin Bess, is the natural reluctance 
of a half-breed to leave the savage state. Their attach- 
ment to a wandering life is, I verily believe, unconquer- 
able.” 

“It is a precarious life,” observed Marmaduke, with- 
out hearing the Sheriff’s observation, “and one that 
brings more evils with it than present suffering. Trust 
me, young friend, my experience is greater than thine, 
when I tell thee, that the unsettled life of these hunt- 
ers is of vast disadvantage for temporal purposes, and it 
totally removes one from the influence of more sacred 
things. ” 

“No, no, Judge,” interrupted the Leather - Stocking, 
who was hitherto unseen, or disregarded; “take him into 
your shanty in welcome, but tell him truth. I have 
lived in the woods for forty long years, and have spent 
five at a time without seeing the light of a clearing bigger 
than a windrow in the trees; and I should like to know 
where you ’ll find a man, in his sixty-eighth year, who 
can get an easier living, for all your betterments and your 
deer- laws: and, as for honesty, or doing what’s right be- 


206 


THE PIONEERS 


tween man and man, I ’ll not turn my back to the longest 
winded deacon on your Patent.” 

“Thou art an exception, Leather- Stocking,” returned 
the Judge, nodding good-naturedly at the hunter; “for 
thou hast a temperance unusual in thy class, and a hardi- 
hood exceeding thy years. But this youth is made of 
materials too precious to be wasted in the forest. I en- 
treat thee to join my family, if it be but till thy arm be 
healed. My daughter here, who is mistress of my dwell- 
ing, will tell thee that thou art welcome.” 

“Certainly,” said Elizabeth, whose earnestness was a 
little checked by female reserve. “ The unfortunate would 
be welcome at any time, but doubly so when we feel that 
we have occasioned the evil ourselves.” 

“Yes,” said Richard, “and if you relish turkey, young 
man, there are plenty in the coops, and of the best kind, 
I can assure you.” 

Finding himself thus ably seconded, Marmaduke pushed 
his advantage to the utmost. He entered into a detail 
of the duties that would attend the situation, and circum- 
stantially mentioned the reward, and all those points 
which are deemed of importance among men of business. 
The youth listened in extreme agitation. There was an 
evident contest in his feelings; at times he appeared to 
wish eagerly for -the change, and then again the incompre- 
hensible expression of disgust would cross his features, 
like a dark cloud obscuring a noonday sun. 

The Indian, in whose manner the depression of self- 
abasement was most powerfully exhibited, listened to the 
offers of the Judge with an interest that increased with 
each syllable. Gradually he drew nigher to the group; 
and when, with his keen glance, he detected the most 
marked evidence of yielding in the countenance of his 
young companion, he changed at once from his attitude 
and look of shame to the front of an Indian warrior — 
and moving with great dignity closer to the parties, he 
spoke : — 

“Listen to your Father,” he said; “his words are old. 
Let the Young Eagle and the Great Land Chief eat to- 


THE PIONEERS 


20 ? 


gether; let them sleep, without fear, near each other. 
The children of Miquon love not blood; they are just, 
and will do right. The sun must rise and set often, be- 
fore men can make one family; it is not the work of 
a day, but of many winters. The Mingos and the Del- 
awares are born enemies: their blood can never mix in 
the wigwam: it never will run in the same stream in 
the battle. What makes the brother of Miquon and the 
Young Eagle foes 1 They are of the same tribe — their 
fathers and mothers are one. Learn to wait, my son: 
you are a Delaware, and an Indian warrior knows how to 
be patient.” 

This figurative address seemed to have great weight 
with the young man, who gradually yielded to the re- 
presentations of Marmaduke, and eventually consented to 
his proposal. It was, however, to be an experiment 
only; and if either of the parties thought fit to rescind 
the engagement, it was left at his option so to do. The 
remarkable and ill-concealed reluctance of the youth to 
accept an offer which most men in his situation would 
consider as an unhoped-for elevation, occasioned no little 
surprise in those to whom he was a stranger; and it left 
a slight impression to his disadvantage. When the par- 
ties separated, they very naturally made the subject the 
topic of a conversation, which we shall relate; first com- 
mencing with the Judge, his daughter, and Richard, who 
were slowly pursuing the way back to the Mansion-house. 

“I have surely endeavored to remember the holy man- 
dates of our Redeemer, when He bids us ‘ Love them who 
despitefully use you, ’ in my intercourse with this incom- 
prehensible boy,” said Marmaduke. “I know not what 
there is in my dwelling to frighten a lad of his years, un- 
less it may be thy presence and visage, Bess.” 

“No, no,” said Richard, with great simplicity; “it is 
not cousin Bess. But when did you ever know a half- 
breed, ’Duke, who could bear civilization! For that mat- 
ter, they are worse than the savages themselves ! Did you 
notice how knock-kneed he stood, Elizabeth, and what a 
wild look he had in his eyes 1 ” 


208 


THE PIONEERS 


“I heeded not his eyes, nor his knees, which would 
be all the better for a little humbling. Beally, my dear 
sir, I think you did exercise the Christian virtue of pa- 
tience to the utmost. I was disgusted with his airs, long 
before he consented to make one of our family. Truly, 
we are much honored by the association ! In what apart- 
ment is he to he placed, sir; and at_what table is he to 
receive his nectar and ambrosia ? ” 

“With Benjamin and Bemarkable, ” interrupted Mr. 
Jones; “you surely would not make the youth eat with 
the blacks ! He is part Indian, it is true ; but the natives 
hold the negroes in great contempt. No, no; he would 
starve before he would break a crust with the negroes.” 

“I am but too happy, Dickon, to tempt him to eat 
with ourselves,” said Marmaduke, “to think of offering 
even the indignity you propose.” 

“Then, sir,” said Elizabeth, with an air that was 
slightly affected, as if submitting to her father’s orders in 
opposition to her own will, “it is your pleasure that he 
he a gentleman.” 

“Certainly; he is to fill the station of one. Let him 
receive the treatment that is due to his place, until we 
find him unworthy of it.” 

“Well, well, ’Duke,” cried the Sheriff, “you will find 
it no easy matter to make a gentleman of him. The old 
proverb says that ‘ It takes three generations to make 
a gentleman.’ There was my father, whom everybody 
knew, — my grandfather was an M. D. , and his father a 
D. D. ; and his father came from England. I never could 
come at the truth of his origin; hut he was either a great 
merchant in London, or a great country lawyer, or the 
youngest son of a bishop.” 

“Here is a true American genealogy for you,” said 
Marmaduke, laughing. “It does very well till you get 
across the water, where, as everything is obscure, it is 
certain to deal in the superlative. You are sure that 
your English progenitor was great, Dickon, whatever his 
profession might have been ? ” 

“To be sure I am,” returned the other. “I have 


THE PIONEERS 


209 


heard my old aunt talk of him by the month. We are 
of a good family, Judge Temple, and' have never filled 
any but honorable stations in life.” 

“I marvel that you should be satisfied with so scanty 
a provision of gentility in the olden time, Dickon. Most 
of the American genealogists commence their traditions, 
like the stories for children, with three brothers, taking 
especial care that one of the triumvirate shall be the pro- 
genitor of any of the same name who may happen to be 
better furnished with worldly gear than themselves. But 
here all are equal who know how to conduct themselves 
with propriety ; and Oliver Edwards comes into my family 
on a footing with both the High Sheriff and the Judge.” 

“Well, ’Duke, I call this democracy, not republican- 
ism; but I say nothing; only let him keep within the 
law, or I shall show him that the freedom of even this 
country is under wholesome restraint.” 

“ Surely, Dickon, you will not execute till I condemn ! 
But what says Bess to the new inmate? We must pay 
a deference to the ladies in this matter, after all.” 

“Oh, sir!” returned Elizabeth, “I believe I am much 
like a certain Judge Temple in this particular — not easily 
to be turned from my opinion. But, to be serious, al- 
though I must think the introduction of a demi-savage 
into the family a somewhat startling event, whomsoever 
you think proper to countenance may be sure of my 
respect. ” 

The Judge drew her arm more closely in his own and 
smiled, while Bichard led the way through the gate of 
the little courtyard in the rear of the dwelling, dealing out 
his ambiguous warnings with his accustomed loquacity. 

On the other hand, the foresters — for the three hunt- 
ers, notwithstanding their difference in character, well de- 
served this common name — pursued their course along 
the skirts of the village in silence. It was not until they 
had reached the lake, and were moving over its frozen 
surface towards the foot of the mountain, where the hut 
stood, that the youth exclaimed: — 

“Who could have foreseen this a month since! I have 


210 


THE PIONEERS 


consented to serve Marmaduke Temple, — to be an inmate 
in the dwelling of the greatest enemy of my race ; yet 
what better could I do ? The servitude cannot be long ; 
and when the motive for submitting to it ceases to exist, 
I will shake it olf, like the dust from my feet.” 

“ Is he a Mingo, that you will call him enemy ? 99 said 
Mohegan. “The Delaware warrior sits still, and waits 
the time of the Great Spirit. He is no woman, to cry 
out like a child.” 

“Well, I ’m mistrustful, John,” said Leather-Stocking, 
in whose air there had been, during the whole business, 
a strong expression of doubt and uncertainty. “They 
say that there ’s new laws in the land, and I am sartain 
that there ’s new ways in the mountains. One hardly 
knows the lakes and streams, they ’ve altered the country 
so much. I must say I ’m mistrustful of such smooth 
speakers; for I ’ve known the whites talk fair when they 
wanted the Indian lands most. This I will say, though 
I ’m white myself, and was born nigh York, and of hon- 
est parents, too.” 

“I will submit,” said the youth; “I will forget who 
I am. Cease to remember, old Mohegan, that I am the 
descendant of a Delaware chief, who once was master of 
these noble hills, these beautiful vales, and of this water 
over which we tread. Yes, yes ; I will become his 
bondsman — his slave. Is it not an honorable servitude, 
old man ? ” 

“ Old man ! ” repeated the Indian, solemnly, and paus- 
ing in his walk, as usual, when much excited: “yes; 
John is old. Son of my brother! if Mohegan was young, 
when would his rifle be still? Where would the deer 
hide, and he not find him? But John is old; his hand 
is the hand of a squaw; his tomahawk is a hatchet; 
brooms and baskets are his enemies — he strikes no other. 
Hunger and old age come together. See, Hawkeye ! 
when young, he would go days and eat nothing: but 
should he not put the brush on the fire now, the blaze 
would go out. Take the son of Miquon by the hand, 
and he will help you.” 


T1IE PIONEERS 


211 


“I’m not the man I was, I’ll own, Chingachgook, ” 
returned the Leather-Stocking; “but I can go without 
a meal now, on occasion. When we tracked the Iroquois 
through the ‘ Beech woods, ’ they drove the game afore 
them, for I hadn’t a morsel to eat from Monday morning 
come Wednesday sundown ; and then I shot as fat a. buck, 
on the Pennsylvany line, as ever mortal laid eyes on. It 
would have done your heart good to have seen the Dela- 
ware eat; for I was out scouting and scrimmaging with 
their tribe at the time. Lord! the Indians, lad, lay still 
and just waited till Providence should send them their 
game; but I foraged about, and put a deer up, and put 
him down too, afore he had made a dozen jumps. I was 
too weak and too ravenous to stop for his flesh; so I took 
a good drink of his blood, and the Indians ate of his meat 
raw. John was there, and John knows. But then star- 
vation would be apt to be too much for me now, I will 
own, though I’m no great eater at any time.” 

“Enough is said, my friends,” cried the youth. “I 
feel that everywhere the sacrifice is required at my hands, 
and it shall be made ; but say no more, I entreat you ; I 
cannot bear this subject now.” 

His companions were silent; and they soon reached the 
hut, which they entered, after removing certain compli- 
cated and ingenious fastenings, that were put there appar- 
ently to guard a property of hut very little value. Im- 
mense piles of snow lay against the log walls of this 
secluded habitation, on one side ; while fragments of small 
trees and branches of oak and chestnut, that had been 
torn from their parent stems by the winds, were thrown 
into a pile on the other. A small column of smoke rose 
through a chimney of sticks, cemented with clay, along 
the side of the rock; and had marked the snow above 
with its dark tinges, in a wavy line, from the point of 
emission to another, where the hill receded from the brow 
of a precipice, and held a soil that nourished trees of a 
gigantic growth, that overhung the little bottom beneath. 

The remainder of the day passed off as such days are 
commonly spent in a new country. The settlers thronged 


212 


THE PIONEERS 


to the academy again, to witness the second effort of Mr. 
Grant ; and Mohegan was one of his hearers. But, not- 
withstanding the divine fixed his eyes intently on the 
Indian, when he invited his congregation to advance to 
the table, the shame of last night’s abasement was yet too 
keen in the old chief to suffer him to move. 

When the people were dispersing, the clouds that had 
been gathering all the morning were dense and dirty; 
and before half of the curious congregation had reached 
their different cabins, that were placed in every glen and 
hollow of the mountains or perched on the summits of 
the hills themselves, the rain was falling in torrents. 
The dark edges of the stumps began to exhibit them- 
selves, as the snow settled rapidly; the fences of logs and 
brush, which before had been only traced by long lines 
of white mounds that ran across the valley and up the 
mountains, peeped out from their covering, and the black 
stubs were momentarily becoming more distinct, as large 
masses of snow and ice fell from their sides under the 
influence of the thaw. 

Sheltered in the warm hall of her father’s comfortable 
mansion, Elizabeth, accompanied by Louisa Grant, looked 
abroad with admiration at the ever- varying face of things 
without. Even the village, which had just before been 
glittering with the color of the frozen element, reluctantly 
dropped its mask, and the houses exposed their dark roofs 
and smoked chimneys. The pines shook off the covering 
of snow, and everything seemed to be assuming its proper 
hue, with a transition that bordered on the supernatural. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


And yet, poor Edwin was no vulgar boy. 

James Beattie : The Minstrel, I. xvi. 


The close of Christmas Day, A. d. 1793, was tempes- 
tuous, but comparatively warm. When darkness had 
again hid the objects in the village from the gaze of Eliza- 


THE PIONEERS 


213 


beth, she turned from the window, where she had re- 
mained while the least vestige of light lingered over the 
tops of the dark pines, with a curiosity that was rather 
excited than appeased hy the passing glimpses of woodland 
scenery that she had caught during the day. 

With her arm locked in that of Miss Grant, the young 
mistress of the mansion walked slowly up and down the 
hall, musing on scenes that were rapidly recurring to her 
memory, and possibly dwelling at times in the sanctuary 
of her thoughts, on the strange occurrences that had led 
to the introduction to her father’s family of one whose 
, manners so singularly contradicted the inferences to be 
drawn from his situation. The expiring heat of the apart- 
ment — for its great size required a day to reduce its tem- 
perature — had given to her cheeks a bloom that exceeded 
their natural color, while the mild and melancholy fea- 
tures of Louisa were brightened with a faint tinge, that, 
like the hectic of disease, gave a painful interest to her 
beauty. 

The eyes of the gentlemen, who yet were seated around 
the rich wines of Judge Temple, frequently wandered 
from the table, that was placed at one end of the hall, 
to the forms that were silently moving over its length. 
Much mirth, and that at times of a boisterous kind, pro- 
ceeded from the mouth of Richard; but Major Hartmann 
was not yet excited to his pitch of merriment, and Marma- 
duke respected the presence of his clerical guest too much 
to indulge in even the innocent humor that formed no 
small ingredient in his character. 

Such were, and such continued to be, the pursuits of 
the party, for half an hour after the shutters were closed, 
and candles were placed in various parts of the hall as 
substitutes for the departing daylight. The appearance 
of Benjamin, staggering under the burden of an armful of 
wood, was the first interruption to the scene. 

“How now, Master Pump!” roared the newly ap- 
pointed sheriff; “is there not warmth enough in ’Duke’s 
best Madeira to keep up the animal heat through this 
thaw ? Remember, old boy, that the Judge is particular 


214 


THE PIONEERS 


with his beech and maple, beginning to dread already a 
scarcity of the precious articles. Ha! ha! ha! ’Duke, you 
are a good, warm-hearted relation, I will own, as in duty 
bound, hut you have some queer notions about you, after 
all. — 1 Come let us be jolly, and castaway folly.’ ” 

The notes gradually sank into a hum, while the major- 
domo threw down his load, and turning to his interrogator 
with an air of earnestness, replied : — 

“Why, look you, Squire Dickens, mayhap there’s a 
warm latitude round about the table there, tho”f it ’s not 
the stuff to raise the heat in my body, neither; the raal 
Jamaiky being the only thing to do that, besides good 
wood, or some such matter as Newcastle coal. But, if I 
know anything of weather, d’ ye see, it ’s time to be get- 
ting all snug, and for putting the ports in, and stirring the 
fifes a bit. Mayhap I ’ve not followed the seas twenty- 
seven years, and lived another seven in these here woods, 
for nothing, gemmen.” 

“Why, does it bid fair for a change in the weather, 
Benjamin? ” inquired the master of the house. 

“There’s a shift of wind, your honor,” returned the 
steward; “and when there’s a shift of wind, you may 
look for a change in this here climate. I was aboard of 
one of Rodney’s fleet , 1 d’ ye see, about the time we licked 
De Grasse, Mounsheer Ler Quaw’s countryman, there; and 
the wind was here at the south’ard and east’ard; and I 
was below, mixing a toothful of hot stuff for the captain 
of marines, who dined, d’ ye see, in the cabin, that there 
very same day ; and I suppose he wanted to put out the 
captain’s fire with a gun-room ingyne : and so, just as I 
got it to my own liking, after tasting pretty often, for 
the soldier was difficult to please, slap came the foresail 
agin the mast, whiz went the ship round on her heel, like 
a whirligig. And a lucky thing was it that our helm was 
down; for as she gathered starnway she paid off, which 
was more than every ship in the fleet did, or could do. 

1 [George Brydges Rodney, 1718-1792, a noted English admiral, won 
a victory over the French under De Grasse off Dominica, April 12, 1782. 
He was created Baron Rodney.] 


THE PIONEERS 


215 


But she strained herself in the trough of the sea, and she 
shipped a deal of water over her quarter. I never swal- 
lowed so much clear water at a time in my life, as I did 
then, for I was looking up the after-hatch at the instant. ” 
“I wonder, Benjamin, that you did not die with a 
dropsy ! ” said Marmaduke. 

“I mought, Judge,” said the old tar, with a broad 
grin; “hut there was no need of the med’cine chest for 
a cure; for, as I thought the brew was spoilt for the 
marine’s taste, and there was no felling when another sea 
might -come and spoil it for mine, I finished the mug on 
the spot. So then all hands was called to the pumps, 
and there we began to ply the pumps ” — 

“Well, but the weather?” interrupted Marmaduke; 
“what of the weather without doors? ” 

“Why, here the wind has been all day at the south, 
and now there ’s a lull, as if the last blast was out of 
the bellows; and there ’s a streak along the mountains to 
the north’ard, that just now wasn’t wider than the big- 
ness of your hand; and then the clouds drive afore it as 
you ’d brail a mainsail, and the stars are heaving in sight, 
like so many lights and beacons put there to warn us 
to pile on the wood; and, if-so-he that I ’m a judge of 
weather, it ’s getting to he time to build on a fire ; or 
you ’ll have half of them there porter bottles, and them 
dimmyjohns of wine, in the locker here, breaking with 
the frost afore the morning watch is called.” 

“Thou art a prudent sentinel,” said the Judge. “Act 
thy pleasure with the forests, for this night at least.” 

Benjamin did as he was ordered ; nor had two hours 
elapsed before the prudence of his precautions became 
very visible. The south wind had, indeed, blown itself 
out, and it was succeeded by the calmness that usually 
gave warning of a serious change in the weather. Long 
before the family retired to rest, the cold had become 
cuttingly severe; and when Monsieur Le Quoi sallied 
forth, under a bright moon, to seek his own abode, he 
was compelled to beg a blanket in which he might en- 
velop his form, in addition to the numerous garments that 


216 


THE PIONEERS 


his sagacity had provided for the occasion. The divine 
and his daughter remained as inmates of the mansion- 
house during the night, and the excess of last night’s 
merriment induced the gentlemen to make an early retreat 
to their several apartments. Long before midnight, the 
whole family were invisible. 

Elizabeth and her friend had not yet lost their senses 
in sleep, when the howlings of the northwest wind were 
heard around the buildings, and brought with them that 
exquisite sense of comfort that is ever excited under such 
circumstances, in an apartment where the fire has not 
yet ceased to glimmer; and curtains, and shutters, and 
feathers, unite to preserve the desired temperature. Once, 
just as her eyes had opened, apparently in the last stage 
of drowsiness, the roaring winds brought with them a 
long and plaintive howl, that seemed too wild for a dog, 
and yet resembled the cries of that faithful animal, when 
night awakens his vigilance and gives sweetness and 
solemnity to his alarms. The form of Louisa Grant in- 
stinctively pressed nearer to that of the young heiress, 
— who, finding her companion was yet awake, said, in a 
low tone, as if afraid to break a charm with her voice : — 

“Those distant cries are plaintive, and even beautiful. 
Can they he the hounds from the hut of Leather-Stock- 
ing ? ” 

“They are wolves, who have ventured from the moun- 
tain, on the lake,” whispered Louisa, “and who are only 
kept from the village by the lights. One night, since 
we have been here, hunger drove them to our very door. 
Oh, what a dreadful night it was ! But the riches of 
Judge Temple have given him too many safeguards to 
leave room for fear in this house.” 

“The enterprise of Judge Temple is taming the very 
forests ! ” exclaimed Elizabeth, throwing off the covering 
and partly rising in the bed. “How rapidly is civiliza- 
tion treading on the footsteps of nature ! ” she continued, 
as her eye glanced over, not only the comforts but the 
luxuries of her apartment, and her ear again listened to 
the distant, but often repeated howls from the lake. 


THE PIONEERS 


217 


Finding, however, that the timidity of her companion ren- 
dered the sounds painful to her, Elizabeth resumed her 
place, and soon forgot the changes in the country, with 
those in her own condition, in a deep sleep. 

The following morning, the noise of the female servant 
who entered the apartment to light the fire awoke the 
females. They arose, and finished the slight preparations 
of their toilets in a clear, cold atmosphere, that penetrated 
through all the defenses of even Miss Temple’s warm 
room. When Elizabeth was attired, she approached a 
window and drew its curtain, and throwing open its shut- 
ters, she endeavored to look abroad on the village and the 
lake. But a thick covering of frost on the glass, while 
it admitted the light, shut out the view. She raised the 
sash, and then, indeed, a glorious scene met her delighted 
eye. 

The lake had exchanged its covering of unspotted snow 
for a face of dark ice, that reflected the rays of the ris- 
ing sun like a polished mirror. The houses were clothed 
in a dress of the same description, hut which, owing to 
its position, shone like bright steel; while the enormous 
icicles, that were pendent from every roof, caught the 
brilliant light, — apparently throwing it from one to the 
other, as each glittered, on the side next the luminary, 
with a golden lustre, that melted away on its opposite 
into the dusky shades of a background. But it was the 
appearance of the boundless forests that covered the hills 
as they rose, in the distance, one over the other, that 
most attracted the gaze of Miss Temple. The huge 
branches of the pines and hemlocks bent with the weight 
of the ice they supported, while their summits rose above 
the swelling tops of the oaks, beeches, and maples, like 
spires of burnished silver issuing from domes of the same 
material. The limits of the view in the west were 
marked by an undulating outline of bright light, — as 
if, reversing the order of nature, numberless suns might 
momentarily be expected to heave above the horizon. In 
the foreground of the picture, along the shores of the 
lake, and near to the village, each tree seemed studded 


218 


THE PIONEERS 


with diamonds. Even the sides of the mountains where 
the rays of the sun could not yet fall were decorated 
with a glassy coat, that presented every gradation of bril- 
liancy, from the first touch of the luminary to the dark 
foliage of the hemlock, glistening through its coat of crys- 
tal. In short, the whole view was one scene of quiver- 
ing radiancy, as lake, mountains, village, and woods each 
emitted a portion of light, tinged with its peculiar hue, 
and varied by its position and its magnitude. 

“See! ” cried Elizabeth, “see, Louisa: hasten to the 
window, and observe the miraculous change ! ” 

Miss Grant complied; and, after bending for a moment 
in silence, from the opening, she observed in a low tone, 
as if afraid to trust the sound of her voice: — 

“ The change is indeed wonderful ! I am surprised that 
he should be able to effect it so soon.” 

Elizabeth turned in amazement, to hear so skeptical a 
sentiment from one educated like her companion ; but was 
surprised to find that, instead of looking at the view, the 
mild blue eyes of Miss Grant were dwelling on the form 
of a well-dressed young man, who was standing before 
the door of the building, in earnest conversation with her 
father. A second look was necessary, before she was able 
to recognize the person of the young hunter, in a plain, 
but assuredly the ordinary garb of a gentleman. 

“Everything in this magical country seems to border 
on the marvelous,” said Elizabeth; “and among all the 
changes this is certainly not the least wonderful. The 
actors are as unique as the scenery.” 

Miss Grant colored, and drew in her head. 

“I am a simple country girl, Miss Temple, and I am 
afraid you will find me but a poor companion,” she said. 
“I — I am not sure that I understand all you say. But 
I really thought that you wished me to notice the altera- 
tion in Mr. Edwards. Is it not more wonderful when 
we recollect his origin? They say he is part Indian.” 

“ He is a genteel savage : but let us go down, and give 
the Sachem his tea — for I suppose he is a descendant of 
King Philip, if not a grandson of Pocahontas.” 


THE PIONEERS 


219 


The ladies were met in the hall by Judge Temple, who 
took his daughter aside to apprise her of that alteration 
in the appearance of their new inmate with which she 
was already acquainted. 

“He appears reluctant to converse on his former situa- 
tion, ” continued Marmaduke ; “ hut I gather from his dis- 
course, as is apparent from his manner, that he has seen 
better days; and I really am inclining to the opinion of 
Richard, as to his origin; for it was no unusual thing 
for the Indian agents to rear their children in a laudable 
manner, and” — 

“Very well, my dear sir,” interrupted his daughter, 
laughing and averting her eyes; “it is all well enough, 
I dare say; but as I do not understand a word of the 
Mohawk language, he must be content to speak English; 
and as for his behavior, I trust to your discernment to 
control it.” 

“Aye! but, Bess,” said the Judge, detaining her gen- 
tly with his hand, “nothing must be said to him of his 
past life. This he has begged particularly of me, as a 
favor. He is, perhaps, a little soured, just now, with 
his wounded arm; the injury seems very light, and another 
time he may be more communicative.” 

“ Oh, I am not much troubled, sir, with that laudable 
thirst after knowledge that is called curiosity. I shall 
believe him to he the child of Corn-stalk, or Corn-planter, 
or some other renowned chieftain; possibly of the Big 
Snake himself; and shall treat him as such until he sees 
fit to shave his good-looking head, borrow some half dozen 
pair of my best ear-rings, shoulder his rifle again, and 
disappear as suddenly as he made his entrance. So come, 
my dear sir, and let us not forget the rites of hospitality, 
for the short time he is to remain with us.” 

Judge Temple smiled at the playfulness of his child, 
and taking her arm, they entered the breakfast parlor, 
where the young hunter was seated, with an air that 
showed his determination to domesticate himself in the 
family with as little parade as possible. 

Such were the incidents that led to this extraordinary 


220 


THE PIONEERS 


increase in the family of Judge Temple, where, having 
once established the youth, the subject of our tale requires 
us to leave him, for a time, to pursue with diligence and 
intelligence the employments that were assigned him by 
Marmaduke. 

Major Hartmann made his customary visit, and took 
his leave of the party for the next three months. Mr. 
Grant was compelled to he absent much of his time, in 
remote parts of the country, and his daughter became 
almost a constant visitor at the mansion-house. Richard 
entered, with his constitutional eagerness, on the duties 
of his new office ; and, as Marmaduke was much employed 
with the constant applications of adventurers for farms, 
the winter passed swiftly away. The lake was a principal 
scene for the amusements of the young people; where the 
ladies, in their one-horse cutter, driven by Richard, and 
attended, when the snow would admit of it, by young 
Edwards on his skates, spent many hours, — taking the 
benefit of exercise in the clear air of the hills. The re- 
serve of the youth gradually gave way to time and his 
situation, though it was still evident to a close observer 
that he had frequent moments of bitter and intense feel- 
ing. 

Elizabeth saw many large openings appear in the sides 
of the mountains during the three succeeding months, 
where different settlers had, in the language of the coun- 
try, “made their pitch ;” while the numberless sleighs 
that passed through the village, loaded with wheat and 
barrels of potashes, afforded a clear demonstration that 
all these labors were not undertaken in vain. In short, 
the whole country was exhibiting the bustle of a thriv- 
ing settlement, where the highways were thronged with 
sleighs, hearing piles of rough household furniture; stud- 
ded, here and there, with the smiling faces of women and 
children, happy in the excitement of novelty; or with 
loads of produce, hastening to the common market at 
Albany, that served as so many snares to induce the emi- 
grants to enter into those wild mountains in search of 
competence and happiness. 


THE PIONEERS 


221 


The village was alive with business; the artisans in- 
creasing in wealth with the prosperity of the country, and 
each day witnessing some nearer approach to the manners 
and usages of an old settled town. The man who carried 
the mail, or “the post,” as he was called, talked much of 
running a stage, and, once or twice during the winter, he 
was seen taking a single passenger, in his cutter, through 
the snow - banks towards the Mohawk, along which a 
regular vehicle glided, semi-weekly, with the velocity of 
lightning, and under the direction of a knowing whip 
from the “down countries.” Towards spring divers fam- 
ilies, who had been into the “old States,” to see their 
relatives, returned, in time to save the snow, frequently 
bringing with them whole neighborhoods, who were 
tempted by their representations to leave the farms of 
Connecticut and Massachusetts, to make a trial of fortune 
in the woods. 

During all this time, Oliver Edwards, whose sudden 
elevation excited no surprise in that changeful country, 
was earnestly engaged in the service of Marmaduke, dur- 
ing the days; but his nights were often spent in the hut 
of Leather- Stocking. The intercourse between the three 
hunters was maintained with a certain air of mystery, it 
is true, but with much zeal and apparent interest to all 
the parties. Even Mohegan seldom came to the mansion- 
house, and Natty, never; but Edwards sought every lei- 
sure moment to visit his former abode, from which he 
would often return in the gloomy hours of night, through 
the snow, or, if detained beyond the time at which the 
family retired to rest, with the morning sun. These 
visits certainly excited much speculation in those to whom 
they were known, but no comments were made, except- 
ing occasionally, in whispers from Kichard, who would 
say: — 

“ It is not at all remarkable ; a half-breed can never be 
weaned from the savage ways, and for one of his lineage, 
the boy is much nearer civilization than could, in reason, 
be expected.” 


222 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XX. 

Away ! nor let me loiter in my song, 

For we have many a mountain path to tread. 

Byeon : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage , II. xxxvi. 


As the spring gradually approached, the immense piles 
of snow, that by alternate thaws and frosts and repeated 
storms had obtained a firmness which threatened a tire- 
some durability, began to yield to the influence of milder 
breezes and a warmer sun. The gates of heaven at times 
seemed to open, and a bland air diffused itself over the 
earth, when animate and inanimate nature would awaken, 
and for a few hours the gayety of spring shone in every 
eye, and smiled on every field. But the shivering blasts 
from the north would carry their chill influence over the 
scene again, and the dark and gloomy clouds that inter- 
cepted the rays of the sun were not more cold and dreary 
than the reaction. These struggles between the seasons 
became daily more frequent, while the earth, like a vic- 
tim to contention, slowly lost the animated brilliancy of 
winter without obtaining the aspect of spring. 

Several weeks were consumed in this cheerless manner, 
during which the inhabitants of the country gradually 
changed their pursuits from the social and bustling move- 
ments of the time of snow, to the laborious and domestic 
engagements of the coming season. The village was no 
longer thronged with visitors; the trade, that had enliv- 
ened the shops for several months, began to disappear; 
the highways lost their shining coats of beaten snow in 
impassable sloughs, and were deserted by the gay and 
noisy travelers who, in sleighs, had, during the winter, 
glided along their windings; and, in short, everything 
seemed indicative of a mighty change, not only in the 
earth but in those who derived their sources of comfort 
and happiness from its bosom. 

The younger members of the family in the mansion- 
house, of which Louisa Grant was now habitually one, 
were by no means indifferent observers of these fluctuating 


THE PIONEERS 


223 


and tardy changes. While the snow rendered the roads 
passable they had partaken largely in the amusements of 
the winter, which included not only daily rides over the 
mountains, and through every valley within twenty miles 
of them, but divers ingenious and varied sources of plea- 
sure on the bosom of their frozen lake. There had been 
excursions in the equipage of Richard, when, with his 
four horses, he had outstripped the winds, as it flew over 
the glassy ice which invariably succeeded a thaw. Then 
the exciting and dangerous “ whirligig ” would be suffered 
to possess its moment of notice. Cutters, drawn by a 
single horse, and hand-sleds, impelled by the gentlemen, 
on skates, would each in turn be used; and, in short, 
every source of relief against the tediousness of a winter 
in the mountains was resorted to by the family. Eliza- 
beth was compelled to acknowledge to her father, that the 
season, with the aid of his library, was much less irksome 
than she had anticipated. 

As exercise in the open air was in some degree neces- 
sary to the habits of the family, when the constant recur- 
rence of frosts and thaws rendered the roads, which were 
dangerous at the most favorable times, utterly impassable 
for wheels, saddle horses were used as substitutes for 
other conveyances. Mounted on small and sure-footed 
beasts, the ladies would again attempt the passages of the 
mountains, and penetrate into every retired glen, where 
the enterprise of a settler had induced him to establish 
himself. In these excursions they were attended by some 
one or all of the gentlemen of the family, as their differ- 
ent pursuits admitted. Young Edwards was hourly be- 
coming more familiarized to his situation, and not unfre- 
quently mingled in the parties with an unconcern and 
gayety that for a short time would expel all unpleasant 
recollections from his mind. Habit, and the buoyancy 
of youth, seemed to be getting the ascendency over the 
secret causes of his uneasiness; though there were mo- 
ments when the same remarkable expression of disgust 
would cross his intercourse with Marmaduke that had 
distinguished their conversations in the first days of their 
acquaintance. 


224 


THE PIONEERS 


It was at the close of the month of March, that the 
Sheriff succeeded in persuading his cousin and her young 
friend to accompany him in a ride to a hill that was said 
to overhang the lake in a manner peculiar to itself. 

“Besides, cousin Bess,” continued the indefatigable 
Bichard, “ we will stop and see the ‘ sugar hush ’ of Billy 
Kirby ; he is on the east end of the Bansom lot, making 
sugar for Jared Bansom. There is not a better hand over 
a kettle in the county than that same Kirby. You re- 
member, 'Duke, that I had him his first season, in our 
own camp; and it is not a wonder that he knows some- 
thing of his trade.” 

“He’s a good chopper, is Billy,” observed Benjamin, 
who held the bridle of the horse while the Sheriff 
mounted; “and he handles an axe much the same as a 
forecastle-man does his marlingspike, or a tailor his goose. 
They say he ’ll lift a potash kettle off the arch alone, 
though I can’t say that I ’ve ever seen him do it with my 
own eyes — but that is the say. And I’ve seen sugar 
of his making, which, maybe, wasn’t as white as an old 
topgallant-sail, but which my friend Mistress Prettybones, 
within there, said had the true molasses smack to it; and 
you are not the one, Squire Dickens, to be told that Mis- 
tress Bemarkable has a remarkable tooth for sweet things, 
in her nut grinder.” 

The loud laugh that succeeded the wit of Benjamin, 
and in which he participated, with no very harmonious 
sounds, himself, very fully illustrated the congenial tem- 
per which existed between the pair. Most of its point 
was, however, lost on the rest of the party, who were 
either mounting their horses or assisting the ladies at the 
moment. When all were safely in their saddles, they 
moved through the village in great order. They paused 
for a moment before the door of Monsieur Le Quoi, until 
he could bestride his steed, and then issuing from the little 
cluster of houses, they took one of the principal of those 
highways that centred in the village. 

As each night brought with it a severe frost, which the 
heat of the succeeding day served to dissipate, the eques- 


THE PIONEERS 


225 


trians were compelled to proceed singly along the margin 
of the road, where the turf, and firmness of the ground, 
gave the horses a secure footing. Very trifling indications 
of vegetation were to be seen, the surface of the earth 
presenting a cold, wet, and cheerless aspect that chilled 
the blood. The snow yet lay scattered over most of those 
distant clearings that were visible in different parts of the 
mountains, though here and there an opening might be 
seen, where as the white covering yielded to the season, 
the bright and lively green of the wheat served to en- 
kindle the hopes of the husbandman. Nothing could be 
more marked than the contrast between the earth and the 
heavens; for, while the former presented the dreary view 
that we have described, a warm and invigorating sun was 
dispensing heats from a sky that contained but a solitary 
cloud, and through an atmosphere that softened the colors 
of the sensible horizon until it shone like a sea of blue. 

Richard led the way, on this, as on all other occasions, 
that did not require the exercise of unusual abilities ; and 
as he moved along, he essayed to enliven the party with 
the sounds of his experienced voice. 

“This is your true sugar weather, ’Duke,” he cried; 
“a frosty night and a sunshiny day. I warrant me that 
the sap runs like a mill-tail up the maples this warm 
morning. It is a pity, Judge, that you do not introduce 
a little more science into the manufacture of sugar among 
your tenants. It might be done, sir, without knowing 
as much as Doctor Franklin — it might be done, Judge 
Temple. ” 

“The first object of my solicitude, friend Jones,” re- 
turned Marmaduke, “ is to protect the sources of this great 
mine of comfort and wealth from the extravagance of the 
people themselves. When this important point shall be 
achieved, it will be in season to turn our attention to an 
improvement in the manufacture of the article. But thou 
knowest, Bichard, that I have already subjected our sugar 
to the process of the refiner, and that the result has pro- 
duced loaves as white as the snow on yon fields, and pos- 
sessing the saccharine quality in its utmost purity.” 


226 


THE PI ONE EES 


“Saccharine, or turpentine, or any other 7 ine, Judge 
Temple, you have never made a loaf larger than a good 
sized sugar- plum , 77 returned the Sheriff. “Now, sir, I 
assert that no experiment is fairly tried, until it be re- 
duced to practical purposes. If, sir, I owned a hundred, 
or, for that matter, two hundred thousand acres of land, 
as you do, I would build a sugar-house in the village ; I 
would invite learned men to an investigation of the sub- 
ject, — and such are easily to be found, sir; yes, sir, they 
are not difficult to find, — men who unite theory with 
practice; and I would select a wood of young and thrifty 
trees; and instead of making loaves of the size of a lump 
of candy, damme, ’Duke, but I ’d have them as big as a 
haycock. 77 

“And purchase the cargo of one of those ships that 
they say are going to China, 77 cried Elizabeth — “ turn 
your potash - kettles into teacups, the scows on the lake 
into saucers ; bake your cake in yonder lime-kiln, and in- 
vite the county to a tea-party. How wonderful are the 
projects of genius! Really, sir, the world is of opinion 
that Judge Temple has tried the experiment fairly, though 
he did not cause his loaves to be cast in moulds of the 
magnitude that would suit your magnificent conceptions. 77 

“You may laugh, cousin Elizabeth — you may laugh, 
madam, 7 ’ retorted Richard, turning himself so much in 
his saddle as to face the party, and making dignified ges- 
tures with his whip ; “ but I appeal to common sense, 
good sense, or, what is of more importance than either, 
to the sense of taste, which is one of the five natural 
senses, whether a big loaf of sugar is not likely to contain 
a better illustration of a proposition than such a lump as 
one of your Dutch women puts under her tongue when 
she drinks her tea. There are two ways of doing every- 
thing; the right way, and the wrong way. You make 
sugar now, I will admit, and you may, possibly, make 
loaf-sugar; but I take the question to be, whether you 
may make the best possible sugar, and in the best possi- 
ble loaves . 77 

“Thou art very right, Richard , 77 observed Marmaduke, 


THE PIONEERS 


227 


with a gravity in his air that proved how much he was 
interested in the subject. “It is very true that we manu- 
facture sugar, and the inquiry is quite useful, how much ? 
and in what manner? I hope to live to see the day, 
when farms and plantations shall be devoted to this branch 
of business. Little is known concerning the properties 
of the tree itself, the source of all this wealth; how much 
it may he improved by cultivation, by the use of the hoe 
and plough.” 

“Hoe and plough!” roared the Sheriff, “would you 
set a man hoeing round the root of a maple like this ? ” 
— pointing to one of the noble trees that occur so fre- 
quently in that part of the country. “Hoeing trees! are 
you mad, ’Duke? This is next to hunting for coal! 
Poh! poh! my dear cousin, hear reason, and leave the 
management of the sugar bush to me. Here is Mr. Le 
Quoi, * — he has been in the West Indies, and has seen 
sugar made. Let him give an account of how it is made 
there, and you will hear the philosophy of the thing. 
Well, Monsieur, how is it that you make sugar in the 
West Indies; anything in Judge Temple’s fashion? ” 

The gentleman to whom this query was put was 
mounted on a small horse, of no very fiery temperament, 
and was .riding with his stirrups so short as to bring his 
knees, while the animal rose a small ascent in the wood- 
path they were now traveling, into a somewhat hazardous 
vicinity to his chin. There was no room for gesticulation 
or grace in the delivery of his reply, for the mountain 
was steep and slippery; and although the Frenchman had 
an eye of uncommon magnitude on either side of his 
face, they did not seem to be half competent to forewarn 
him of the impediments of bushes and twigs and fallen 
trees that were momentarily crossing his path. With one 
hand employed in averting these dangers, and the other 
grasping his bridle, to check an untoward speed that his 
horse was assuming, the native of France responded as 
follows : — 

“ Sucre ! dey do make sucre in Martinique : mais — 
mais ce n’est pas one tree; ah — ah — vat you call — je 


228 


THE PIONEERS 


vous drois que ces chemins fussent au diable — vat you 
call — steeck pour le promenade. ” 

“Cane,” said Elizabeth, smiling at the imprecation 
which the wary Frenchman supposed was understood only 
by himself. 

“Oui, Mam’selle, cane.” 

“Yes, yes,” cried Eichard, “cane is the vulgar name 
for it, but the real term is saccharum officinarum; and 
what we call the sugar, or hard maple, is acer saccharinum. 
These are the learned names, Monsieur, and are such as, 
doubtless, you well understand.” 

“ Is this Greek or Latin, Mr. Edwards ? ” whispered 
Elizabeth to the youth, who was opening a passage for 
herself and her companions through the bushes; “or per- 
haps it is a still more learned language, for an interpreta- 
tion of which we must look to you.” 

The dark eye of the young man glanced towards the 
speaker, but its resentful expression changed in a mo- 
ment. 

“I shall remember your doubts, Miss Temple, when 
next I visit my old friend Mohegan, and either his skill, 
or that of Leather-Stocking, shall solve them.” 

“And are you, then, really ignorant of their language? ” 

“Not absolutely; but the deep learning of Mr. Jones 
is more familiar to me, or even the polite masquerade of 
Monsieur Le Quoi.” 

“Do you speak French?” said the lady, with quick- 
ness. 

“It is a common language with the Iroquois, and 
through the Canadas,” he answered smiling. 

“Ah! but they are Mingos, and your enemies.” 

“It will be well for me if I have no worse,” said the 
youth, dashing ahead with his horse, and putting an end 
to the evasive dialogue. 

The discourse, however, was maintained with great 
vigor by Eichard, until they reached an open wood on 
the summit of the mountain, where the hemlocks and 
pines totally disappeared, and a grove of the very trees 
that formed the subject of debate covered the earth with 


THE PIONEERS 


229 


their tall, straight tranks and spreading branches, in" 
stately pride. The underwood had been entirely removed 
from this grove, or hush, as in conjunction with the sim-\ 
pie arrangements for boiling, it was called, and a wide 
space of many acres was cleared, which might be likened 
to the dome of a mighty temple, to which the maples 
formed the columns, their tops composing the capitals, 
and the heavens the arch. A deep and careless incision 
had been made into each tree, near its root, into which 
little sprouts, formed of the bark of the alder, or of the 
sumach, were fastened; and a trough, roughly dug out of 
the linden, or bass-wood, was lying at the root of each 
tree, to catch the sap that flowed from this extremely 
wasteful and inartificial arrangement. 

The party paused a moment, on gaining the flat, to 
breathe their horses, and, as the scene was entirely new 
to several of their number, to view the manner of collect- 
ing the fluid. A fine powerful voice aroused them from 
their momentary silence, as it rang under the branches of 
the trees, singing the following words of that inimitable 
doggerel, whose verses, if extended, would reach from the 
waters of the Connecticut to the shores of Ontario. The 
tune was of course that familiar air, which, although it 
is said to have been first applied to his nation in deri- 
sion, circumstances have since rendered so glorious that no 
American ever hears its jingling cadence without feeling 
a thrill at his heart. 

“ The Eastern States be full of men, 

The Western full of woods, sir, 

The hills be like a cattle-pen, 

The roads be full of goods, sir! 

Then flow away, my sweety sap, 

And I will make you boily; 

Nor catch a woodman’s hasty nap, 

For fear you should get roily. 

“ The maple-tree ’s a precious one, 

’Tis fuel, food, and timber; 

And when your stiff day’s work is done, 

Its juice will ipake you limber. 

Then flow away, etc. 


230 


THE PIONEERS 


“ And what ’s a man without his glass, 

His wife without her tea, sir ? • 

But neither cup nor mug will pass, 

Without this honey-bee, sir ! 

Then flow away,” etc. 

During the execution of this sonorous doggerel, Dieh- 
ard kept time with his whip on the mane of his charger, 
accompanying the gestures with a corresponding movement 
of his head and body. Towards the close of the song, he 
was overheard humming the chorus, and at its last repe- 
tition, to strike in at “sweety sap,” and carry a second 
through, with a prodigious addition to the “ effect ” of the 
noise, if not to that of the harmony. 

“Well done us!” roared the Sheriff, on the same key 
with the tune ; “ a very good song, Billy Kirby, and very 
well sung. Where got you the words, lad ? is there more 
of it, and can you furnish me with a copy ? ” 

The sugar- boiler, who was busy in his “camp,” at a 
short distance from the equestrians, turned his head with 
great indifference, and surveyed the party, as they ap- 
proached, with admirable coolness. To each individual, 
as he or she rode close by him, he gave a nod that was 
extremely good-natured and affable, but which partook 
largely of the virtue of equality, for not even to the ladies 
did he in the least vary his mode of salutation, by touch- 
ing the apology for a hat that he wore, or by any other 
motion than the one we have mentioned. 

“ How goes it, how goes it, Sheriff ? ” said the wood- 
chopper; “what ’s the good word in the village? ” 

“Why, much as usual, Billy,” returned Diehard. 
“ But how is this ? where are your four kettles, and your 
troughs and your iron coolers? Do you make sugar in 
this slovenly way ? I thought you were one of the best 
sugar- boilers in the county.” 

“I’m all that, Squire Jones,” said Kirby, who contin- 
ued his occupation; “I ’ll turn my back to no man in the 
Otsego hills, for chopping and logging, for boiling down 
the maple sap, for tending brick-kiln, splitting out rails, 
making potash, and parling 1 too, or hoeing corn ; though 
1 [Qy . P ear l as h ? 1 


THE PIONEERS 


231 


I keep myself pretty much to the first business, seeing 
that the axe comes most natural to me.” 

“You be von Jack All-trade, Mister Beel,” said Mon- 
sieur Le Quoi. 

“ How *! ” said Kirby, looking up, with a simplicity 
which, coupled with his gigantic frame and manly face, 
was a little ridiculous, “if you be for trade, Mounsher, 
here is some as good sugar as you ’ll find the season 
through. It ’s as clear from dirt as the Jarman Flats is 
free from stumps, and it has the raal maple flavor. Such, 
stuff would sell in York for candy.” 

The Frenchman approached the place where Kirby had 
deposited his cakes of sugar, under the cover of a bark 
roof, and commenced the examination of the article, with 
the eye of one who well understood its value. Marma- 
duke had dismounted, and was viewing the works and 
the trees very closely, and not without frequent expres- 
sions of dissatisfaction at the careless manner in which the 
manufacture was conducted. 

“You have much experience in these things, Kirby,” 
he said; “what course do you pursue in making your 
sugar ? I see you have but two kettles. ” 

“Two is as good as two thousand, Judge. I’m none 
of your polite sugar-makers, that boils for the great folks; 
but if the raal sweet maple is wanted, I can answer your 
turn. First, I choose, and then I tap my trees — say 
along about the last of February, or in these mountains, 
maybe not afore the middle of March; but any way, just 
as the sap begins to cleverly run ” — 

“Well, in this choice,” interrupted Marmaduke, “are 
you governed by any outward signs that prove the qual- 
ity of the tree 1 ” 

“Why, there’s judgment in all things,” said Kirby, 
stirring the liquor in his kettles briskly. “There ’s some- 
thing in knowing when and how much to stir the pot. 
It ’s a thing that must be l’arnt. Rome wasn’t built in 
a day, nor for that matter Templetown either, though it 
may be said to be a quick-growing place. I never put 
my axe into a stunty tree, or one that has n’t a good, 


232 


THE PIONEERS 


fresh looking bark; for trees have disorders, like crea- 
tor’s; and where’s the policy of taking a tree that’s 
sickly, any more than you ’d choose a foundered horse to 
ride post, or an over-heated ox to do your logging 1 ” 

“All this is true. But what are the signs of illness? 
how do you distinguish a tree that is well from one that 
is diseased ? ” 

“How does the doctor tell who has fever, and who 
colds ? ” interrupted Bichard. “ By examining the skin, 
and feeling the pulse, to be sure.” 

“Sartain,” continued Billy; “the Squire ain’t far out 
of the way. It ’s by the look of the thing, sure enough. 
Well, when the sap begins to get a free run, I hang over 
the kettles, and set up the hush. My first boiling I 
push pretty smartly, till I get the virtue of the sap; but 
when it begins to grow of a molasses natur’, like this in 
the kettle, one must n’t drive the fires too hard, or you ’ll 
burn the sugar; and burny sugar is bad to the taste, let 
it be never so sweet. So you ladle out from one kettle 
into the other till it gets so, when you put the stirring 
stick into it, that it will draw into a thread — when it 
takes a kerful hand to manage it. There is a way to 
drain it off, after it has grained, by putting clay into 
the pans; but it isn’t always practiced; some doos, and 
some doos n’t. Well, Mounsher, be we likely to make a 
trade 1 ” 

“I will give you, Mister Beel, for von pound, dix 
sous. ” 

“No, I expect cash for’t; I never dicker my sugar. 
But, seeing it ’s you, Mounsher,” said Billy, with a coax- 
ing smile, “I’ll agree to receive a gallon of rum, and 
cloth enough for two shirts, if you will take the molasses 
in the bargain. It ’s raal good. I wouldn’t deceive you 
or any man; and to my drinking it ’s about the best mo- 
lasses that come out of a sugar- bush.” 

“Mr. Le Quoi has offered you tenpence,” said young 
Edwards. 

The manufacturer stared at the speaker with an air of 
great freedom, but made no reply. 


THE PIONEERS 


233 


“Oui,” said the Frenchman, “ten penny. Je vous 
remercie, Monsieur: ah! mon Anglais! je l’oublie tou- 
jours.” 

The wood-chopper looked from one to the other with 
some displeasure; and evidently imbibed the opinion that 
they were amusing themselves at his expense. He seized 
the enormous ladle, which was lying in one of his kettles, 
and began to stir the boiling liquid with great diligence. 
After a moment passed in dipping the ladle full, and then 
raising it on high, as the thick, rich fluid fell back into 
the kettle, he suddenly gave it a whirl, as if to cool what 
yet remained, and offered the bowl to Mr. Le Quoi, say- 
ing:— 

“Taste that, Mounsher, and you will say it is worth 
more than you offer. The molasses itself would fetch the 
money. ” 

The complaisant Frenchman, after several timid efforts 
to trust his lips in contact with the bowl of the ladle, got 
a good swallow of the scalding liquid. He clapped his 
hand on his breast and looked most piteously at the ladies 
for a single instant; and then, to use the language of 
Billy, when he afterwards recounted the tale, “No drum- 
sticks ever went faster on the skin of a sheep, than the 
Frenchman’s legs, for a round or two: and then such 
swearing and spitting in French you never saw. But 
it ’s a knowing one, from the old countries, that thinks 
to get his jokes smoothly over a wood-chopper. ” 

The air of innocence with which Kirby resumed the 
occupation of stirring the contents of his kettle would 
have completely deceived the spectators as to his agency 
in the temporary suffering of Mr. Le Quoi, had not the 
reckless fellow thrust his tongue into his cheek, and cast 
his eyes over the party, with a simplicity of expression 
that was too exquisite to be natural. Mr. Le Quoi soon 
recovered his presence of mind, and his decorum, — he 
briefly apologized to the ladies for one or two very intem- 
perate expressions that had escaped him in a moment of 
extraordinary excitement, and remounting his horse, he 
continued in the background during the remainder of the 


234 


THE PIONEERS 


visit; the wit of Kirby putting a violent termination, at 
once, to all negotiations on the subject of trade. During 
all this time, Marmaduke had been wandering about the 
grove, making observations on his favorite trees and the 
wasteful manner in which the wood-chopper conducted 
his manufacture. 

“It grieves me to witness the extravagance that per- 
vades this country, ” said the Judge, “where the settlers 
trifle with the blessings they might enjoy with the prodi- 
gality of successful adventurers. You are not exempt 
from the censure yourself, Kirby, for you make dreadful 
wounds in these trees where a small incision would effect 
the same object. I earnestly beg you will remember that 
they are the growth of centuries, and when once gone, 
none living will see their loss remedied.” 

“Why, X don’t know, Judge,” returned the man he 
addressed: “it seems to me, if there’s a plenty of any- 
thing in this mountaynious country, it ’s the trees. If 
there ’s any sin in chopping them, I ’ve a pretty heavy 
account to settle, for I ’ve chopped over the best half of 
a thousand acres, with my own hands, counting both 
Varmount and York States; and I hope to live to finish 
the hull before I lay up my axe. Chopping comes quite 
natural to me, and I wish no other employment; but 
Jared Ransom said that he thought the sugar was likely 
to be scurce this season, seeing that so many folks was 
coming into the settlement, and so I concluded to take 
the ‘ bush ’ on sheares for this one spring. What ’s the 
best news, Judge, consarning ashes 1 do pots hold so that 
a man can live by them still? I s’pose they will, if they 
keep on fighting across the water.” 

“Thou reasonest with judgment, William,” returned 
Marmaduke. “So long as the old world is to be con- 
vulsed with wars, so long will the harvest of America 
continue. ” 

“Well, it ’s an ill wind, Judge, that blows nobody any 
good. I ’m sure the country is in a thriving way; and, 
though I know you calkilate greatly on the trees, setting 


THE PIONEERS 


235 


as much store by them as some men would by their chil- 
dren, yet to my eyes they are a sore sight at any time, 
unless I ’m privileged to work my will on them; in which 
case I can’t say but they are more to my liking. I have 
heard the settlers from the old countries say that their 
rich men keep great oaks and elms, that would make a 
barrel of pots to the tree, standing round their doors and 
humsteads, and scattered over their farms, just to look at. 
Now, I call no country much improved, that is pretty 
well covered with trees. Stumps are a different thing, 
for they don’t shade the land; and besides, if you dig 
them, they make a fence that will turn anything bigger 
than a hog, being grand for breachy cattle.” 

“Opinions on such subjects vary much in different 
countries,” said Marmaduke; “but it is not as ornaments 
that I value the noble trees of this country — it is for 
their usefulness. We are stripping the forests, as if a 
single year would replace what we destroy. But the hour 
approaches when the laws will take notice of not only the 
woods, but the game they contain also.” 

With this consoling reflection, Marmaduke remounted, 
and the equestrians passed the sugar-camp, on their way 
to the promised landscape of Bichard. The wood-chopper 
was left alone, in the bosom of the forest, to pursue his 
labors. Elizabeth turned her head, when they reached 
the point where they were to descend the mountain, and 
thought that the slow fires that were glimmering under 
his enormous kettles, his little brush shelter, covered with 
pieces of hemlock bark, his gigantic size, as he wielded 
his ladle with a steady and knowing air, aided by the 
background of stately trees, with their spouts and troughs, 
formed, all together, no unreal picture of human life in its 
lirst stages of civilization. Perhaps whatever the scene 
possessed of a romantic character was not injured by the 
powerful tones of Kirby’s voice ringing through the 
woods, as he again awoke his strains to another tune, 
which was but little more scientific than the former. All 
that she understood of the words was : — 


236 


THE PIONEERS 


“ And when the proud forest is falling, 

To my oxen cheerfully calling, 

From morn until night I am bawling, 

Whoa, back there, and hoy and gee ; 

Till our labor is mutually ended, 

By my strength and cattle befriended, 

And against the mosquitoes defended, 

By the bark of the walnut-tree. 

“Away! then, you lads who would buy land, 
Choose the oak that grows on the high land, 
Or the silvery pine on the dry land, 

It matters but little to me.” 


CHAPTER XXI. 

Speed ! Malise, speed ! such cause of haste 
Thine active sinews never braced. 

Walter Scott : The Lady of the Lake , III. xiii. 


The roads of Otsego, if we except the principal high- 
ways, were at the early day of our tale but little better 
than woodpaths. The high trees that were growing on 
the very verge of the wheel-tracks excluded the sun’s 
rays, unless at meridian ; and the slowness of the evapo- 
ration, united with the rich mould of vegetable decom- 
position that covered the whole country to the depth of 
several inches, occasioned hut an indifferent foundation 
for the footing of travelers. Added to these were the in- 
equalities of a natural surface, and the constant recurrence 
of enormous and slippery roots that were laid bare by the 
removal of the light soil, together with stumps of trees, 
to make a passage not only difficult hut dangerous. Yet 
the riders, among these numerous obstructions, which were 
such as would terrify an unpracticed eye, gave no de- 
monstrations of uneasiness, as their horses toiled through 
the sloughs, or trotted with uncertain paces along the dark 
route. In many places, the marks on the trees were the 
only indications of a road, with perhaps an occasional 
remnant of a pine, that, by being cut close to the earth, 
.so as to leave nothing visible hut its base of roots, spread- 


THE PIONEERS 


237 


ing for twenty feet in every direction, was apparently 
placed there as a beacon to warn the traveler that it was 
the centre of a highway. 

Into one of these roads the active Sheriff led the way, 
first striking out 'of the footpath, by which they had de- 
scended from the sugar hush, across a little bridge, formed 
of round logs laid loosely on sleepers of pine, in which 
large openings of a formidable width were frequent. The 
nag of Richard, when it reached one of these gaps, laid 
its nose along the logs, and stepped across the difficult 
passage with the sagacity of a man; hut the blooded filly 
which Miss Temple rode disdained so humble a move- 
ment. She made a step or two with an unusual caution, 
and then on reaching the broadest opening, obedient to the 
curb and whip of her fearless mistress, she hounded across 
the dangerous pass with the activity of a squirrel. 

“Gently, gently, my child, ” said Marmaduke, who 
was following in the manner of Richard, “this is not a 
country for equestrian feats. Much prudence is requisite 
to journey through our rough paths with safety. Thou 
mayest practice thy skill in horsemanship on the plains of 
New Jersey with safety; but in the hills of Otsego they 
may be suspended for a time.” 

“I may as well then relinquish my saddle at once, dear 
sir,” returned his daughter; “for if it is to be laid aside 
until this wild country be improved, old age will over- 
take me, and put an end to what you term my equestrian 
feats. ” 

“Say not so, my child,” returned her father; “but if 
thou venturest again, as in crossing this bridge, old age 
will never overtake thee, but I shall he left to mourn thee, 
cut off in thy pride, my Elizabeth. If thou hadst seen 
this district of country, as I did, when it lay in the sleep 
of nature, and had witnessed its rapid changes, as it awoke 
to supply the wants of man, thou wouldst curb thy impa- 
tience for a little time, though thou shouldst not check 
thy steed.” 

“I recollect hearing you. speak of your first visit to 
these woods, hut the impression is faint, and blended with 


238 


THE PIONEERS 


the confused images of childhood. Wild and unsettled as 
it may yet seem, it must have been a thousand times more 
dreary then. Will you repeat, dear sir, what you then 
thought of your enterprise, and what you felt? ” 

During this speech of Elizabeth, which was uttered 
with the fervor of affection, young Edwards rode more 
closely to the side of the Judge, and bent his dark eyes 
on his countenance with an expression that seemed to 
read his thoughts. 

“ Thou wast then young, my child, hut must remember 
when I left thee and thy mother, to take my first survey 
of these uninhabited mountains, ” said Marmaduke. “But 
thou dost not feel all the secret motives that can urge a 
man to endure privations in order to accumulate wealth. 
In my case they have not been trifling, and God has been 
pleased to smile on my efforts. If I have encountered 
pain, famine, and disease, in accomplishing the settlement 
of this rough territory, I have not the misery of failure 
to add to the grievances. ” 

“Famine!” echoed Elizabeth ; “I thought this was the 
land of abundance ! had you famine to contend with ? ” 

“Even so, my child,” said her father. “Those who 
look around them now, and see the loads of produce that 
issue out of every wild path in these mountains, during 
the season of traveling, will hardly credit that no more 
than five years have elapsed, since the tenants of these 
woods were compelled to eat the scanty fruits of the for- 
est to sustain life, and, with their unpracticed skill, to 
hunt the beasts as food for their starving families.” 

“ Aye ! ” cried Richard, who happened to overhear the 
last of this speech, between the notes of the wood-chop- 
per’s song, which he was endeavoring to breathe aloud; 
“that was the starving time , 1 cousin Bess. I grew as 

1 The author has no better apology for interrupting the interest of a 
work of fiction b}' these desultory dialogues, than that they have re- 
ference to facts. In reviewing his work, after so many years, he is com- 
pelled to confess it is injured by too many allusions to incidents that are 
not at all suited to satisfy the just expectations of the general reader. 
One of these events is slightly touched on, in the commencement of this 
chapter. 


THE PIONEERS 


239 


lank as a weasel that fall, and my face was as pale as one 
of your fever-and-ague visages. Monsieur Le Quoi, there, 
fell away like a pumpkin in drying; nor do I think you 
have got fairly over it yet, Monsieur. Benjamin, I thought, 
bore it with a worse grace than any of the family ; for he 
swore it was harder to endure than a short allowance in 
the calm latitudes. Benjamin is a sad fellow to swear, if 
you starve him ever so little. I had a half a mind to quit 
you then, ’Duke, and to go into Pennsylvania to fatten; 
but, damn it, thinks I, we are sisters’ children, and I will 
live or die with him, after all.” 

“I do not forget thy kindness,” said Marmaduke, “nor 
that we are of one blood.” 

“But, my dear father,” cried the wondering Elizabeth, 
“ was there actual suffering ? where were the beautiful and 
fertile vales of the Mohawk 1 could they not furnish food 
for your wants 1 ” 

“It was a season of scarcity; the necessities of life com- 
manded a high price in Europe, and were greedily sought 
after by the speculators. The emigrants, from the east 
to the west, invariably passed along the valley of the Mo- 
hawk, and swept away the means of subsistence, like a 
swarm of locusts. Nor were the people on the Elats in 
a much better condition. They were in want themselves, 
but they spared the little excess of provisions that nature 
did not absolutely require, with the justice of the Ger- 
man character. There was no grinding of the poor. The 
word speculator was then unknown to them. I have seen 
many a stout man, bending under the load of the hag of 
meal, which he was carrying from the mills of the Mo- 
hawk, through the rugged passes of these mountains, to 
feed his half-famished children, with a heart so light, as 
he approached his hut, that the thirty miles he had 
passed seemed nothing. Bemember, my child, it was in 

More than thirty years since, a very near and dear relative of the 
writer, an elder sister and a second mother, was killed by a fall from 
a horse, in a ride among the very mountains mentioned in this tale. 
Few of her sex and years were more extensively known, or more uni- 
versally beloved, than the admirable woman who thus fell a victim to 
the chances of the wilderness. 


240 


THE PIONEERS 


our very infancy; we had neither mills, nor grain, nor 
roads, nor often clearings; we had nothing of increase, 
but the mouths that were to he fed; for, even at that 
inauspicious moment, the restless spirit of emigration was 
not idle; nay, the general scarcity which extended to the 
east, tended to increase the number of adventurers.” 

“And how, dearest father, didst thou encounter this 
dreadful evil ? ” said Elizabeth, unconsciously adopting 
the dialect of her parent in the warmth of her sympathy. 
“Upon thee must have fallen the responsibility, if not 
the suffering.” 

“It did, Elizabeth,” returned the Judge, pausing for 
a single moment, as if musing on his former feelings. “ I 
had hundreds, at that dreadful time, daily looking up to 
me for bread. The sufferings of their families, and the 
gloomy prospect before them, had paralyzed the enterprise 
and efforts of my settlers; hunger drove them to the 
woods for food, hut despair sent them at night, enfeebled 
and wan, to a sleepless pillow. It was not a moment for 
inaction. I purchased cargoes of wheat from the grana- 
ries of Pennsylvania; they were landed at Albany, and 
brought up the Mohawk in boats; from thence they were 
transported on pack-horses into the wilderness, and dis- 
tributed among my people. Seines were made, and the 
lakes and rivers were dragged for fish. Something like a 
miracle was wrought in our favor, for enormous shoals of 
herrings were discovered to have wandered five hundred 
miles, through the windings of the impetuous Susque- 
hanna, and the lake was alive with their numbers. These 
were at length caught, and dealt out to the people, with 
proper portions of salt; and from that moment we again 
began to prosper. ” 1 

“Yes,” cried Richard, “and I was the man who served 
out the fish and the salt. When the poor devils came to 
receive their rations, Benjamin, who was my deputy, was 
obliged to keep them off by stretching ropes around me, 
for they smelt so of garlic, from eating nothing but the 
wild onion, that the fumes put me out often in my mea- 
1 All this was literally true. 


THE PIONEERS 


241 


surement. You were a child then, Bess, and knew no- 
thing of the matter, for great care was observed to keep 
both you and your mother from suffering. That year 
put me back dreadfully, both in the breed of my hogs 
and of my turkeys.” 

“No, Bess,” cried the Judge, in a more cheerful tone, 
disregarding the interruption of his cousin, “ he who hears 
of the settlement of a country knows but little of the toil 
and suffering by which it is accomplished. Unimproved 
and wild as this district now seems to your eyes, what 
was it when I first entered the hills! I left my party, 
the morning of my arrival, near the farms of the Cherry 
Valley, and, following a deer-path, rode to the summit of 
the mountain that I have since called Mount Vision; for 
the sight that there met my eyes seemed to me as the 
'deceptions of a dream. The fire had run over the pin- 
nacle, and, in a great measure, laid open the view. The 
leaves were fallen, and I mounted a tree and sat for an 
hour looking on the silent wilderness. Not an opening 
was to be seen in the boundless forest, except where the 
lake lay, like a mirror of glass. The water was covered 
by myriads of the wild-fowl that migrate with the changes 
in the season; and, while in my situation on the branch 
of the beech, I saw a bear with her cubs descend to the 
shore to drink. I had met many deer, gliding through 
the woods, in my journey; but not the vestige of a man 
could I trace during my progress, nor from my elevated 
observatory. No clearing, no hut, none of the winding 
roads that are now to be seen, were there; nothing but 
mountains rising behind mountains; and the valley, with 
its surface of branches, enlivened here and there with the 
faded foliage of some tree, that parted from its leaves with 
more than ordinary reluctance. Even the Susquehanna 
was then hid, by the height and density of the forest.” 

“And were you alone ? ” asked Elizabeth ; “passed you 
the night in that solitary state 1 ” 

“Not so, my child,” returned her father. “After 
musing on the scene for an hour, with a mingled feeling 
of pleasure and desolation, I left my perch and descended 


242 


THE PIONEERS 


the mountain. My horse was left to hrowse on the twigs 
that grew within his reach, while I explored the shores 
of the lake, and the spot where Templeton stands. A 
pine of more than ordinary growth stood where my dwell- 
ing is now placed ! 1 a windrow had been opened through 
the trees from thence to the lake, and my view was but 
little impeded. Under the branches of that tree I made 
my solitary dinner; I had just finished my repast as I 
saw a smoke curling from under the mountain, near the 
eastern bank of the lake. It was the only indication of 
the vicinity of man that I had then seen. After much 
toil I made my way to the spot, and found a rough cabin 
of logs, built against the foot of a rock, and hearing the 
marks of a tenant, though I found no one within it ” — 

“It was the hut of Leather-Stocking , ” said Edwards, 
quickly. 

“It was; though I at first supposed it to be a habita- 
tion of the Indians. But while I was lingering around 
the spot, Natty made his appearance, staggering under the 
carcass of a buck that he had slain. Our acquaintance 
commenced at that time; before, I had never heard that 
such a being tenanted the woods. He launched his bark 
canoe, and set me across the foot of the lake, to the place 
where I had fastened my horse, and pointed out a spot 
where he might get a scanty browsing until the morning; 
when I returned and passed the night in the cabin of the 
hunter. ” 

Miss Temple was so much struck by the deep attention 
of young Edwards, during this speech, that she forgot to 
resume her interrogatories; but the youth himself contin- 
ued the discourse, by asking : — 

1 The largest pines found in Otsego County measured six feet in 
diameter, and nearly two hundred feet in height. But these were rare; 
pines from three to five feet in diameter were not uncommon in the ori- 
ginal forest. Oaks, elms, chestnuts, ashes, -and maples of great size were 
very numerous. The hilltops at that period were all crowned with a 
line of evergreen pinnacles, rising often fifty or sixty feet above the 
lower forest, and adding greatly to the dignity of the low mountains. 
Few of the hills now show this wild outline against the skv. The woods 
have now the rounder summit of trees of a second growth. — S. F. C. 


THE PIONEERS 


243 


“And how did the Leather-Stocking discharge the 
duties of a host, sir ? ” 

“Why, simply but kindly, until late in the evening, 
when he discovered my name and object, and the cor- 
diality of his manner very sensibly diminished, — or, I 
might better say, disappeared. He considered the intro- 
duction of the settlers as an innovation on his rights, I 
believe ; for he expressed much dissatisfaction at the mea- 
sure, though it was in his confused and ambiguous manner. 
I hardly understood his objections myself, but supposed 
they referred chiefly to an interruption of the hunting.” 

“ Had you then purchased the estate, or were you ex- 
amining it with an intent to buy ? ” asked Edwards, a 
little abruptly. 

“It had been mine for several years. It was with a 
view to people the land that I visited the lake. Natty 
treated me hospitably, but coldly, I thought, after he 
learned the nature of my journey. I slept on his own 
bearskin, however, and in the morning joined my survey- 
ors again.” 

“Said he nothing of the Indian rights, sir? The 
Leather- Stocking is much given to impeach the justice of 
the tenure by which the whites hold the country.” 

“I remember that he spoke of them, but I did not 
clearly comprehend him, and may have forgotten what he 
said; for the Indian title was extinguished so far back as 
the close of the old war; and if it had not been at all, I 
hold under the patents of the royal governors, confirmed 
by an act of our own State legislature, and no court in 
the country can affect my title.” 

“Doubtless, sir, your title is both legal and equitable,” 
returned the youth, coldly, reining his horse back, and 
remaining silent till the subject was changed. 

It was seldom Mr. Jones suffered any conversation to 
continue for a great length of time without his partici- 
pation. It seems that he was of the party that Judge 
Temple had designated as his surveyors ; and he embraced 
the opportunity of the pause that succeeded the retreat of 
young Edwards, to take up the discourse, and with it a 


244 


THE PIONEERS 


narration of their further proceedings, after his own man- 
ner. As it wanted, however, the interest that had accom- 
panied the description of the Judge, we must decline the 
task of committing his sentences to paper. 

They soon reached the point where the promised view 
was to be seen. It was one of those picturesque and pe- 
culiar scenes that belong to the Otsego, but which required 
the absence of the ice, and the softness of a summer’s 
landscape, to be enjoyed in all its beauty. Marmaduke 
had early forewarned his daughter of the season, and of 
its effect on the prospect; and after casting a cursory 
glance at its capabilities, the party returned homeward, 
perfectly satisfied that its beauties would repay them for 
the toil of a second ride, at a more propitious season. 

“The spring is the gloomy time of the American year,” 
said the Judge; “and it is more peculiarly the case in 
these mountains. The winter seems to retreat to the fast- 
nesses of the hills, as to the citadel of its dominion, and 
is only expelled after a tedious siege, in w r hich either 
party, at times, would seem to he gaining the victory.” 

“A very just and apposite figure, Judge Temple,” ob- 
served the Sheriff; “and the garrison under the command 
of Jack Frost make formidable sorties — you understand 
what I mean by sorties, Monsieur; sallies in English — 
and sometimes drive General Spring and his troops back 
again into the low countries.” 

“Yes, sair,” returned the Frenchman, whose prominent 
eyes were watching the precarious footsteps of the beast 
he rode, as it picked its dangerous way among the roots 
of trees, holes, log-bridges, and sloughs, that formed the 
aggregate of the highway. “Je vous entend; de low 
countrie is freeze up for half de year.” 

The error of Mr. Le Quoi was not noticed by the Sheriff, 
and the rest of the party were yielding to the influence 
of the changeful season, which was already teaching the 
equestrians that a continuance of its mildness was not to 
be expected for any length of time. Silence and thought- 
fulness succeeded the gayety and conversation that had 
prevailed during the commencement of the ride, as clouds 


THE PIONEERS 


245 


began to gather about the heavens, apparently collecting 
from every quarter, in quick motion, without the agency 
of a breath of air. 

While riding over one of the cleared eminences that 
occurred in their route, the watchful eye of Judge Temple 
pointed out to his daughter the approach of a tempest. 
Flurries of snow already obscured the mountain that 
formed the northern boundary of the lake, and the genial 
sensation which had quickened the blood through their 
veins was already succeeded by the deadening influence 
of an approaching northwester. 

All of the party were now busily engaged in making 
the best of their way to the village, though the badness 
of the roads frequently compelled them to check the im- 
patience of their animals, which often carried them over 
places that would not admit of any gait faster than a 
walk. 

Richard continued in advance, followed by Mr. Le 
Quoi, next to whom rode Elizabeth, who seemed to have 
imbibed the distance which pervaded the manner of young 
Edwards since the termination of the discourse between 
the latter and her father. Marmaduke followed his daugh- 
ter, giving her frequent and tender warnings as to the 
management of her horse. It was, possibly, the evident 
dependence that Louisa Grant placed on his assistance 
which induced the youth to continue by her side, as they 
pursued their way through a dreary and dark wood, where 
the rays of the sun could but rarely penetrate, and where 
even the daylight was obscured and rendered gloomy by 
the deep forests that surrounded them. No wind had yet 
reached the spot where the equestrians were in motion, 
but that dead stillness that often precedes a storm contrib- 
uted to render their situation more irksome than if they 
were already subject to the fury of the tempest. Sud- 
denly the voice of young Edwards was heard shouting in 
those appalling tones that carry alarm to the very soul, 
and which curdle the blood of those that hear them : — 

“ A tree ! a tree ! whip — spur for your lives ! a tree ! 
a tree ! ” 


246 


THE PIONEERS 


“A tree! a tree!” echoed Richard, giving his horse a 
blow that caused the alarmed beast to jump nearly a rod, 
throwing the mud and water into the air like a hurricane. 

“Von tree! von tree!” shouted the Frenchman, bend- 
ing his body on the neck of his charger, shutting his eyes, 
and playing on the ribs of his beast with his heels at a 
rate that caused him to be conveyed on the crupper of 
the Sheriff with a marvelous speed. 

Elizabeth checked her filly, and looked up with an 
unconscious but alarmed air at the very cause of their 
danger, while she listened to the crackling sounds that 
awoke the stillness of the forest; hut the next instant her 
bridle was seized by her father, who cried : — 

“ God protect my child ! ” and she felt herself hurried 
onward, impelled by the vigor of his nervous arm. 

Each one of the party bowed to his saddle-hows, as the 
tearing of branches was succeeded by a sound like the 
rushing of the winds, which was followed by a thunder- 
ing report and a shock that caused the very earth to trem- 
ble, as one of the noblest ruins of the forest fell directly 
across their path. 

One glance was enough to assure Judge Temple that 
his daughter and those in front of him were safe, and 
he turned his eyes, in dreadful anxiety, to learn the fate 
of the others. Young Edwards was on the opposite side 
of the tree, his form thrown back in his saddle to its ut- 
most distance, his left hand drawing up his bridle with 
its greatest force, while the right grasped that of Miss 
Grant, so as to draw the head of her horse under its body. 
Both the animals stood shaking in every joint with terror, 
and snorting fearfully. Louisa herself had relinquished 
her reins, and with her hands pressed on her face, sat 
bending forward in her saddle, in an attitude of despair 
mingled strangely with resignation. 

“ Are you safe 1 ” cried the Judge, first breaking the 
awful silence of the moment. 

“By God’s blessing,” returned the youth; “hut if 
there had been branches to the tree we must have been 
lost ” — 


THE PIONEERS 


247 


He was interrupted by the figure of Louisa slowly 
yielding in her saddle; and but for his arm she would 
have sunk to the earth. Terror, however, was the only 
injury that the clergyman’s daughter had sustained, and 
with the aid of Elizabeth she was soon restored to her 
senses. After some little time was lost in recovering her 
strength, the young lady was replaced in her saddle, and 
supported on either side by Judge Temple and Mr. Ed- 
wards, she was enabled to follow the party in their slow 
progress. 

“The sudden fallings of the trees,” said Marmaduke, 
“are the most dangerous accidents in the forest, for they 
are not to be foreseen, being impelled by no winds nor any 
extraneous or visible cause against which we can guard.” 

“The reason of their falling, Judge Temple, is very 
obvious,” said the Sheriff. “The tree is old and de- 
cayed, and it is gradually weakened by the frosts, until 
a line drawn from the centre of gravity falls without 
its base, and then the tree comes of a certainty; and I 
should like to know what greater compulsion there can be 
for anything than a mathematical certainty. I studied 
mathe — ” 

“Very true, Kichard,” interrupted Marmaduke; “thy 
reasoning is true, and, if my memory be not over treach- 
erous, was furnished by myself on a former occasion. But 
how is one to guard against the danger? canst thou go 
through the forests, measuring the bases, and calculating 
the centres of the oaks? answer me that, friend Jones, 
and I will say thou wilt do the country a service.” 

“ Answer thee that, friend Temple ! ” returned Kichard ; 
“a well educated man can answer thee anything, sir. Do 
any trees fall in this manner but such as are decayed? 
Take care not to approach the roots of a rotten tree, and 
you will be safe enough.” 

“That would be excluding us entirely from the for- 
ests, ” said Marmaduke. “ But, happily, the winds usually 
force down most of these, dangerous ruins, as their cur- 
rents are admitted into the woods by the surrounding 
clearings, and such a fall as this has been is very rare.” 


248 


THE PIONEERS 


Louisa, by this time, had recovered so much strength 
as to allow the party to proceed at a quicker pace, hut 
long before they were safely housed they were overtaken 
by the storm ; and when they dismounted at the door of 
the mansion-house, the black plumes of Miss Temple’s 
hat were drooping with the weight of a load of damp 
snow, and the coats of the gentlemen were powdered with 
the same material. 

While Edwards was assisting Louisa from her horse, 
the warm-hearted girl caught his hand with fervor, and 
whispered : — 

“Now, Mr. Edwards, both father and daughter owe 
their lives to you.” 

A driving northwesterly storm succeeded, and before 
the sun was set, every vestige of spring had vanished ; the 
lake, the mountains, the village, the fields, being again 
hidden under one dazzling coat of snow. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


Men, boys, and girls, 

Desert th’ unpeopled village ; and wild crowds 
Spread o’er the plain, by the sweet frenzy seiz’d. 

William Somerville : The Chace , II. 


From this time to the close of April the weather con- 
tinued to be a succession of great and rapid changes. One 
day the soft airs of spring seemed to be stealing along 
the valley, and in unison with an invigorating sun, at- 
tempting covertly to rouse the dormant powers of the 
vegetable world; while on the next, the surly blasts from 
the north would sweep across the lake, and erase every 
impression left by their gentle adversaries. The snow, 
however, finally disappeared, and the green wheat-fields 
were seen in every direction, spotted with the dark and 
charred stumps that had, the preceding season, supported 
some of the proudest trees of the forest. Ploughs were in 
motion, wherever those useful implements could be used, 
and the smokes of the sugar-camps were no longer seen 


THE PIONEERS 


249 


issuing from the woods of maple. The lake had lost the 
beauty of a field of ice, but still a dark and gloomy cov- 
ering concealed its waters, for the absence of currents left 
them yet hidden under a porous crust, which, saturated 
with the fluid, barely retained enough strength to preserve 
the contiguity of its parts. Large flocks of wild geese 
were seen passing over the country, which hovered, for a 
time, around the hidden sheet of water, apparently search- 
ing for a resting-place; and then, on finding themselves 
excluded by the chill covering, would soar away to the 
north, filling the air with discordant screams, as if venting 
their complaints at the tardy operations of nature. 

For a week the dark covering of the Otsego was left 
to the undisturbed possession of two eagles, who alighted 
on the centre of its field, and sat eying their undisputed 
territory. During the presence of these monarchs of the 
air, the flocks of migrating birds avoided crossing the 
plain of ice by turning into the hills, apparently seeking 
the protection of the forests, while the white and bald 
heads of the tenants of the lake were turned upwards, 
with a look of contempt. But the time had come when 
even these kings of birds were to be dispossessed. An 
opening had been gradually increasing at the lower ex- 
tremity of the lake, and around the dark spot where the 
current of the river prevented the formation of ice, during 
even the coldest weather; and the fresh southerly winds, 
that now breathed freely upon the valley, made an impres- 
sion on the waters. Mimic waves began to curl over the 
margin of the frozen field, which exhibited an outline of 
crystallizations that slowly receded towards the north. At 
each step the power of the winds and the waves increased, 
until, after a struggle of a few hours, the turbulent little 
billows succeeded in setting the whole field in motion, 
when it was driven beyond the reach of the eye, with a 
rapidity that was as magical as the change produced in 
the scene by this expulsion of the lingering remnant of 
winter. Just as the last sheet of agitated ice was disap- 
pearing in the distance, the eagles rose and soared with 
a wide sweep above the clouds, while the waves tossed 


250 


THE PIONEERS 


their little caps of snow into the air, as if rioting in their 
release from a thralldom of five months’ duration. 

The following morning Elizabeth was awakened by the 
exhilarating sounds of the martins, who were quarreling 
and chattering around the little boxes suspended above 
her windows, and the cries of Richard, who was calling 
in tones animating as the signs of the season itself : — 

“Awake, awake, my fair lady! the gulls are hovering 
over the lake already, and the heavens are alive with 
pigeons. You may look an hour before you can find a 
hole through which to get a peep at the sun. Awake, 
awake, lazy ones! Benjamin is overhauling the ammuni- 
tion, and we only wait for our breakfasts, and away for 
the mountains and pigeon shooting. ” 

There was no resisting this animated appeal, and in a 
few minutes Miss Temple and her friend descended to the 
parlor. The doors of the hall were thrown open, and the 
mild, balmy air of a clear spring morning was ventilating 
the apartment, where the vigilance of the ex-steward had 
been so long maintaining an artificial heat with such un- 
remitted diligence. The gentlemen were impatiently -wait- 
ing for their morning’s repast, each equipped in the garb 
of a sportsman. Mr. Jones made many visits to the 
southern door, and would cry : — 

“See, cousin Bess! see, ’Duke, the pigeon-roosts of the 
south have broken up! They are growing more thick 
every instant. Here is a flock that the eye cannot see 
the end of. There is food enough in it to keep the army 
of Xerxes for a month, and feathers enough to make beds 
for the whole country. Xerxes, Mr. Edwards, was a 
Grecian king, who — no, he was a Turk, or a Persian, 
who wanted to conquer Greece, just the same as these 
rascals will overrun our wheat - fields, when they come 
back in the fall. Away, away, Bess! I long to pepper 
them.” 

In this wish both Marmaduke and young Edwards 
seemed equally to participate, for the sight was exhilarat- 
ing to a sportsman; and the ladies soon dismissed the 
party after a hasty breakfast. 


THE PIONEERS 


251 


If the heavens were alive with pigeons , 1 the whole vil- 
lage seemed equally in motion, with men, women, and 
children. Every species of firearms, from the French 
ducking-gun with a barrel near six feet in length to the 
common horseman’s pistolj was to be seen in the hands of 
the men and boys; while bows and arrows, some made of 
the simple stick of a walnut sapling, and others in a rude 
imitation of the ancient cross-bows, were carried by many 
of the latter. 

The houses and the signs of life apparent in the village 
drove the alarmed birds from the direct line of their flight 
toward the mountains, along the sides and near the bases 
of which they were glancing in dense masses, equally won- 
derful by the rapidity of their motion and their incredible 
numbers. 

We have already said that across the inclined plane 
which fell from the steep ascent of the mountain to the 
banks of the Susquehanna, ran the highway, on either 
side of which a clearing of many acres had been made at 
a very early day. Over those clearings, and up the east- 
ern mountain, and along the dangerous path that was cut 
into its side the different individuals posted themselves, 
and in a few moments the attack commenced. 

Among the sportsmen was the tall, gaunt form of Lea- 
ther-Stocking walking over the field, with his rifle hang- 
ing on his arm, his dogs at his heels; the latter now 
scenting the dead or wounded birds that were beginning 
to tumble from the flocks, and then crouching under the 
legs of their master, as if they participated in his feelings 
at this wasteful and unsportsmanlike execution. 

The reports of the firearms became rapid, whole volleys 
rising from the plain, as flocks of more than ordinary 
numbers darted over the opening, shadowing the field like 
a cloud; and then the light smoke of a single piece would 
issue from among the leafless bushes on the mountain, as 

i The immense flocks of pigeons which took their annual flight over 
Lake Otsego seventy years ago have long since vanished. It is only 
occasionally that small flocks of a score or two now attract attention in 
the neighborhood of the village. 


252 


THE PIONEERS 


death was hurled on the retreat of the affrighted birds, 
who were rising from a volley in a vain effort to escape. 
Arrows, and missiles of every kind were in the midst of 
the flocks; and so numerous were the birds, and so low 
did they take their flight, that even long poles, in the 
hands of those on the sides of the mountain, were used 
to strike them to the earth. 

During all this time, Mr. Jones, who disdained the 
humble and ordinary means of destruction used by his 
companions, was busily occupied, aided by Benjamin, in 
making arrangements for an assault of more than ordinarily 
fatal character. Among the relics of the old military ex- 
cursions that occasionally are discovered throughout the 
different districts of the western part of New York, there 
had been found in Templeton at its settlement a small 
swivel, which would carry a ball of a pound weight. It 
was thought to have been deserted by a war party of the 
whites, in one of their inroads into the Indian settlements, 
when, perhaps, convenience or their necessity induced them 
to leave such an incumbrance behind them in the woods. 
This miniature cannon had been released from the rust, 
and being mounted on little wheels was now in a state 
for actual service. For several years, it was the sole 
organ for extraordinary rejoicings used in those moun- 
tains. On the mornings of the Fourths of July, it would 
be heard ringing among the hills; and even Captain Hol- 
lister, who was the highest authority in that part of the 
country on all such occasions, affirmed that, considering 
its dimensions, it was no despicable gun for a salute. It 
was somewhat the worse for the service it had performed, 
it is true, there being but a trifling difference in size be- 
tween the touch-hole and the muzzle. Still, the grand 
conceptions of Richard had suggested the importance of 
such an instrument in hurling death at his nimble ene- 
mies. The swivel was dragged by a horse into a part of 
the open space that the Sheriff thought most eligible for 
planting a battery of the kind, and Mr. Pump proceeded 
to load it. Several handfuls of duckshot were placed on 
top of the powder, and the major-domo announced that 
his piece was ready for service. 


THE PIONEERS 


253 


The sight of such an implement collected all the idle 
spectators to the spot, who, being mostly boys, filled the 
air with cries of exultation and delight. The gun was 
pointed high, and Richard, holding a coal of fire in a pair 
of tongs, patiently took his seat on a stump, awaiting the 
appearance of a flock worthy of his notice. 

So prodigious was the number of the birds, that the 
scattering fire of the guns, with the hurling of missiles 
and the cries of the boys, had no other effect than to 
break off small flocks from the immense masses that con- 
tinued to dart along the valley, as if the whole of the 
feathered tribe were pouring through that one pass. None 
pretended to collect the game, which lay scattered over 
the fields in such profusion as to cover the very ground 
with the fluttering victims. 

Leather- Stocking was a silent, but uneasy spectator of 
all these proceedings, but was able to keep his sentiments 
to himself until he saw the introduction of the swivel into 
the sports. 

“ This comes of settling a country ! ” he said ; “ here 
have I known the pigeons to fly for forty long years, and, 
till you made your clearings, there was nobody to skear 
or to hurt them. I loved to see them in the woods, for 
they were company to a body; hurting nothing; being, 
as it was, as harmless as a garter-snake. But now it gives 
me sore thoughts when I hear the frighty things whizzing 
through the air, for I know it ’s only a motion to bring 
out all the brats in the village. Well! the Lord won’t 
see the waste of his creatures for nothing, and right will 
be done to the pigeons, as well as others, by and by. 
There ’s Mr. Oliver, as bad as the rest of them, firing into 
the flocks as if he was shooting down nothing but Mingo 
warriors. ” 

Among the sportsmen was Billy Kirby, who, armed 
with an old musket, was loading, and without even look- 
ing into the air, was firing and shouting as his victims fell 
even on his own person. Jle heard the speech of Natty, 
and took upon himself to reply : — 

“What! old Leather-Stocking , ” he cried, “grumbling 


254 


THE PIONEERS 


at the loss of a few pigeons ! If you had to sow your 
wheat twice and three times, as I have done, you would n’t 
be so massyfully feeling towards the divils. Hurrah, boys ! 
scatter the feathers! This is better than shooting at a 
turkey’s head and neck, old fellow.” 

“It’s better for you, maybe, Billy Kirby,” replied the 
indignant old hunter, “and all them that don’t know how 
to put a ball down a rifle barrel, or how to bring it up 
again with a true aim; but it’s wicked to be shooting 
into flocks in this wasty manner; and none do it who 
know how to knock over a single bird. If a body has a 
craving for pigeon’s flesh, why, it ’s made the same as all 
other creatur’s, for man’s eating; but not to kill twenty 
and eat one. When I want such a thing I go into the 
woods till I find one to my liking, and then I shoot him 
off the branches without touching the feather of another, 
though there might be a hundred on the same tree. You 
couldn’t do such a thing, Billy Kirby — you couldn’t do 
it, if you tried.” 

“What’s that, old corn-stalk t you sapless stub!” cried 
the wood-chopper. “You have grown wordy, since the 
affair of the turkey; but if you are for a single shot, here 
goes at that bird which comes on by himself.” 

The fire from the distant part of the field had driven 
a single pigeon below the flock to which it belonged, and, 
frightened with the constant reports of the muskets, it was 
approaching the spot where the disputants stood, darting 
first to one side and then to the other, cutting the air 
with the swiftness of lightning and making a noise with 
its wings not unlike the rushing of a bullet. Unfortu- 
nately for the wood-chopper, notwithstanding his vaunt, 
he did not see this bird until it was too late to fire as 
it approached, and he pulled his trigger at the unlucky 
moment when it was darting immediately over his head. 
The bird continued its course with the usual velocity. 

Hatty lowered the rifle from his arm when the challenge 
was made, and waiting a moment, until the terrified vic- 
tim had got in a line with his eye and had dropped near 
the bank of the lake, he raised it again with uncommon 


THE PIONEERS 


255 


rapidity, and fired. It might have been chance, or it 
might have been skill, that produced the result; it was 
probably a union of both; but the pigeon whirled over in 
the air, and fell into the lake with a broken wing. At 
the sound of his rifle both his dogs started from his feet, 
and in a few minutes the “slut” brought out the bird, 
still alive. 

The wonderful exploit of Leather- Stocking was noised 
through the field with great rapidity, and the sportsmen 
gathered in to learn the truth of the report. 

“ What ! ” said young Edwards, “ have you really killed 
a pigeon on the wing, Natty, with a single ball ? ” 

“Haven’t I killed loons before now, lad, that dive at 
the flash?” returned the hunter. “It’s much better to 
kill only such as you want, without wasting your powder 
and lead, than to be firing into God’s creatures in this 
wicked manner. But I came out for a bird, and you 
know the reason why I like small game, Mr. Oliver, and 
now I have got one I will go home, for I don’t relish to 
see these wasty ways that you are all practycing, as if the 
least thing wasn’t made for use, and not to destroy.” 

“Thou sayest well, Leather-Stocking,” cried Marma- 
duke, “and I begin to think it time to put an end to this 
work of destruction.” 

“Put an ind, Judge, to your clearings. Ain’t the 
woods his work as well as the pigeons? Use, but don’t 
waste. Wasn’t the woods made for the beasts and birds 
to harbor in? and when man wanted their flesh, their 
skins, or their feathers, there ’s the place to seek them. 
But I ’ll go to the hut with my own game, for I would n’t 
touch one of the harmless things that cover the ground 
here, looking up with their eyes on me, as if they only 
wanted tongues to say their thoughts.” 

With this sentiment in his mouth, Leather- Stocking 
threw his rifle over his arm, and followed by his dogs, 
stepped across the clearing with great caution, taking care 
not to tread on one of the wounded birds in his path. 
He soon entered the bushes on the margin of the lake, 
and was hid from view. 


256 


THE PIONEERS 


Whatever impression the morality of Natty made on 
the Judge, it was utterly lost on Richard. He availed 
himself of the gathering of the sportsmen to lay a plan 
for one “fell swoop ” of destruction. The musket-men 
were drawn up in battle array, in a line extending on each 
side of his artillery, with orders to await the signal of 
firing from himself. 

“Stand by, my lads,” said Benjamin, who acted as an 
aide-de-camp on this occasion, “stand by, my hearties, 
and when Squire Dickens heaves out the signal to begin 
firing, d’ ye see, you may open upon them in a broadside. 
Take care and fire low, boys, and you T1 be sure to hull 
the flock.” 

“ Fire low ! ” shouted Kirby : “ hear the old fool ! If we 
fire low, we may hit the stumps, but not ruffle a pigeon.” 

“ How should you know, you lubber ? ” cried Benjamin, 
with a very unbecoming heat for an officer on the eve of 
battle ; “ how should you know, you grampus ? Have n’t I 
sailed aboard of the Boadishey for five years ? and was n’t 
it a standing order to fire low, and to hull your enemy ? 
Keep silence at your guns, boys, and mind the order that 
is passed.” 

The loud laughs of the musket-men were silenced by 
the more authoritative voice of Richard, who called for 
attention and obedience to his signals. 

Some millions of pigeons were supposed to have already 
passed that morning over the valley of Templeton; but 
nothing like the flock that was now approaching had been 
seen before. It extended from mountain to mountain in 
one solid blue mass, and the eye looked in vain, over the 
southern hills, to find its termination. The front of this 
living column was distinctly marked by a line but very 
slightly indented, so regular and even was the flight. 
Even Marmaduke forgot the morality of Leather- Stocking 
as it approached, and, in common with the rest, brought 
his musket to a poise. 

“ Fire ! ” cried the Sheriff, clapping a coal to the prim- 
ing of the cannon. As half of Benjamin’s charge escaped 
through the touch-hole, the whole volley of the musketry 


THE PIONEERS 


257 


preceded the report of the swivel. On receiving this 
united discharge of small - arms, the front of the flock 
darted upwards, — while, at the same instant, myriads of 
those in the rear rushed with amazing rapidity into their 
places, so that when the column of white smoke gushed 
from the mouth of the little cannon, an accumulated mass 
of objects was gliding over its point of direction. The 
roar of the gun echoed along the mountains, and died 
away to the north, like distant thunder, while the whole 
flock of alarmed birds seemed, for a moment, thrown into 
one disorderly and agitated mass. The air was filled with 
their irregular flight, layer rising above layer, far above 
the tops of the highest pines, none daring to advance be- 
yond the dangerous pass; when, suddenly, some of the 
leaders of the feathered tribe shot across the valley, taking 
their flight directly over the village, and hundreds of thou- 
sands in their rear followed the example, — deserting the 
eastern side of the plain to their persecutors and the slain. 

“Victory! ” shouted Bichard, “victory! we have driven 
the enemy from the field.” 

“Not so, Dickon,” said Marmaduke: “the field is cov- 
ered with them ; and, like the Leather - Stocking, I see 
nothing but eyes, in every direction, as the innocent suf- 
ferers turn their heads in terror. Full one half of those 
that have fallen are yet alive; and I think it is time to 
end the sport, if sport it be.” 

“ Sport ! ” cried the Sheriff ; “ it is princely sport ! 
There are some thousands of the blue-coated boys on the 
ground, so that every old woman in the village may have 
a pot- pie for the asking.” 

“Well, we have happily frightened the birds from this 
side of the valley,” said Marmaduke, “and the carnage 
must of necessity end, for the present. Boys, I will give 
you sixpence a hundred for the pigeons’ heads only : so 
go to work, and bring them into the village.” 

This expedient produced the desired effect, for every 
urchin on the ground went, industriously to work to wring 
the necks of the wounded birds. Judge Temple re- 
tired towards his dwelling with that kind of feeling that 


258 


THE PIONEERS 


many a man has experienced before him, who discovers, 
after the excitement of the moment has passed, that he 
has purchased pleasure at the price of misery to others. 
Horses were loaded with the dead; and, after this first 
burst of sporting, the shooting of pigeons became a busi- 
ness, with a few idlers, for the remainder of the season. 
Richard, however, boasted for many a year, of his shot 
w’ith the “cricket;” 1 and Benjamin gravely asserted that 
he thought they killed nearly as many pigeons on that 
day as there were Frenchmen destroyed on the memorable 
occasion of Rodney’s victory. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


Help, masters, help ; here ’s a fish hangs in the net, like a poor man’s right in 
the law. Shakespeare : Per.'clcs, II. i. 


The advance of the season now became as rapid as its 
first approach had been tedious and lingering. The days 
were uniformly mild, while the nights, though cool, were 
no longer chilled by frosts. The whippoorwill was heard 
whistling his melancholy notes along the margin of the 
lake, and the ponds and meadows were sending forth the 
music of their thousand tenants. The leaf of the native 
poplar was seen quivering in the woods ; the sides of the 
mountains began to lose their hue of brown, as the lively 
green of the different members of the forest blended 
their shades with the permanent colors of the pine and 
hemlock ; and even the buds of the tardy oak wer6 swell- 
ing with the promise of the coming summer. The gay 


1 This piece of artillery, famous in the annals of the village, was left 
on this ground when it was a wilderness by the army of General Clinton, 
in 1779. It was a large iron swivel, dug up when Otsego Hall was built. 
After doing good service in firing innumerable patriotic salutes, it was 
burst in the same good cause on a certain Fourth of July, to the great 
grief of the village lads. It had met with many adventures by field and 
flood, having been once thrown into the lake. At the time of its final 
disaster, it is said there was no very perceptible difference between its 
touch-hole and its muzzle. — S. F. C. 


THE PIONEERS 


259 


and fluttering bluebird, the social robin, and the indus- 
trious little wren were all to be seen enlivening the fields 
with their presence and their songs; while the soaring 
fish-hawk was already hovering over the waters of the 
Otsego, watching, with native voracity, for the appearance 
of his prey. 

The tenants of the lake were far-famed for both their 
quantities and their quality, and the ice had hardly disap- 
peared before numberless little boats were launched from 
the shores, and the lines of the fishermen were dropped 
into the inmost recesses of its deepest caverns, tempting 
the unwary animals with every variety of bait that the 
ingenuity or the art of man had invented. But the slow 
though certain adventures with hook and line were ill 
suited to the profusion and impatience of the settlers. 
More destructive means were resorted to — and, as the 
season had now arrived when the bass-fisheries were al- 
lowed by the provisions of the law that Judge Temple 
had procured, the Sheriff declared his intention, by avail- 
ing himself of the first dark night, to enjoy the sport in 
person. 

“And you shall be present, cousin Bess,” he added, 
when he announced this design, “and Miss Grant, and 
Mr. Edwards; and I will show you what I call fishing — 
not nibble, nibble, nibble, as ’Duke does when he goes 
after the salmon-trout. There he will sit for hours, in 
a broiling sun, or, perhaps, over a hole in the ice in the 
coldest days in winter, under the lee of a few bushes, and 
not a fish will he catch, after all this mortification of the 
flesh. No, no; give me a good seine that’s fifty or sixty 
fathoms in length, with a jolly parcel of boatmen to crack 
their jokes the while, with Benjamin to steer, and let us 
haul them in by thousands; I call that fishing.” 

“Ah! Dickon,” cried Marmaduke, “thou knowest but 
little of the pleasure there is in playing with the hook 
and line, or thou wouldst be more saving of the game. I 
have known thee to leave fragments enough behind thee, 
when thou hast headed a night-party on the lake, to feed 
a dozen famishing families.” 


260 


THE PIONEERS 


“I shall not dispute the matter, Judge Temple: this 
night will I go; and I invite the company to attend, and 
then let them decide between us.” 

Richard was busy, during most of the afternoon, mak- 
ing his preparations for the important occasion. Just as 
the light of the setting sun had disappeared, and a new 
moon had begun to throw its shadows on the earth, the 
fishermen took their departure in a boat for a point that 
was situated on the western shore of the lake, at the dis- 
tance of rather more than half a mile from the village. 
The ground had become settled, and the walking was 
good and dry. Marmaduke, with his daughter, her friend, 
and young Edwards, continued on the high grassy banks 
at the outlet of the placid sheet of water, watching the 
dark object that was moving across the lake until it en- 
tered the shade of the western hills and was lost to the 
eye. The distance round by land to the point of destina- 
tion was a mile, and he observed : — 

“It is time for us to be moving: the moon will be 
down ere we reach the point, and then the miraculous 
hauls of Dickon will commence.” 

The evening was warm, and, after the long and dreary 
winter from which they had just escaped, delightfully in- 
vigorating. Inspirited by the scenfe and their anticipated 
amusement, the youthful companions of the Judge fol- 
lowed his steps, as he led them along the shores of the 
Otsego and through the skirts of the village. 

“ See ! ” said young Edwards, “ they are building their 
fire already; it glimmers for a moment, and dies again 
like the light of a firefly.” 

“Now it blazes,” cried Elizabeth: “you can perceive 
figures moving around the light. Oh, I would bet my 
jewels against the gold beads of Remarkable, that my im- 
patient cousin Dickon had an agency in raising that bright 
flame ; and see ! it fades again, like most of his brilliant 
schemes.” 

“Thou hast guessed the truth, Bess,” said her father; 
“ he has thrown an armful of brush on the pile, which has 
burnt out as soon as lighted. But it has enabled them 


THE PIONEERS 


261 


to find a better fuel, for their fire begins to blaze with 
a more steady flame. It is the true fisherman’s beacon 
now; observe how beautifully it throws its little circle of 
light on the water ! ” 

The appearance of the fire urged the pedestrians on, for 
even the ladies had become eager to witness the miracu- 
lous draught. By the time they reached the bank, which 
rose above the low point where the fishermen had landed, 
the moon had sunk behind the tops of the western pines, 
and, as most of the stars were obscured by clouds, there 
was but little other light than that which proceeded from 
the fire. At the suggestion of Marmaduke, his compan- 
ions paused to listen to the conversation of those below 
them, and examine the party for a moment before they 
descended to the shore. 

The whole group were seated around the fire, with the 
exception of Bichard and Benjamin ; the former of whom 
occupied the root of a decayed stump, that had been drawn 
to the spot as part of their fuel, and the latter was stand- 
ing, with his arms akimbo, so near to the flame that the 
smoke occasionally obscured his solemn visage, as it waved 
around the pile in obedience to the night airs that swept 
gently over the water. 

“Why, look you, Squire,” said the major-domo, “you 
may call a lake - fish that will weigh twenty or thirty 
pounds a serious matter; but to a man who has hauled in 
a shovel-nosed shirk, d’ ye see, it ’s but a poor kind of 
fishing after all.” 

“I don’t know, Benjamin,” returned the Sheriff; “a 
haul of one thousand Otsego bass, without counting pike, 
pickerel, perch, bull-pouts, salmon-trouts, and suckers, is 
no bad fishing, let me tell you. There may be sport in 
sticking a shark, but what is he good for after you have 
got him 1 Now, any one of the fish that I have named is 
fit to set before a king.” 

“Well, Squire,” returned Benjamin, “just listen to 
the philosophy of the thing. Would it stand to reason, 
that such fish should live and be catched in this here little 
pond of water, where it ’s hardly deep enough to drown 


262 


THE PIONEERS 


a man, as you ’ll find in the wide ocean, where, as every- 
body knows, — that is, everybody that has followed the 
seas, — whales and grampuses are to be seen that are as 
long as one of the pine trees on yonder mountain ? ” 

“Softly, softly, Benjamin,” said the Sheriff, as if he 
wished to save the credit of his favorite; “why, some of 
the pines will measure two hundred feet, and even more.” 

“Two hundred or two thousand, it’s all the same 
thing,” cried Benjamin, with an air which manifested 
that he was not easily to be bullied out of his opinion, on 
a subject like the present. “Haven’t I been there, and 
have n’t I seen? I have said that you fall in with whales 
as long as one of them there pines; and what I have once 
said I ’ll stand to ! ” 

During this dialogue, which was evidently but the close 
of a much longer discussion, the huge frame of Billy Kirby 
was seen extended on one side of the fire, where he was 
picking his teeth with splinters of the chips near him, 
and occasionally shaking his head with distrust of Benja- 
min’s assertions. 

“I ’ve a notion,” said the wood-chopper, “that there ’s 
water in this lake to swim the biggest whale that ever was 
invented; and, as to the pines, I think I ought to know 
so’ thing consarning them; I have chopped many a one that 
was sixty times the length of my helve, without counting 
the eye : and I believe, Benny, that if the old pine that 
stands in the hollow of the Vision Mountain, just over 
the village — you may see the tree itself by looking up, 
for the moon is on its top yet — well, now I believe, if 
that same tree was planted out in the deepest part of the 
lake, there would be water enough for the biggest ship 
that ever was built to float over it, without touching its 
upper branches, I do.” 

“Did’ee ever see a ship, Master Kirby ? ” roared the 
steward; “did ’ee ever see a ship, man? or any craft big- 
ger than a lime-scow, or a wood-boat, on this here small 
bit of fresh water ? ” 

“Yes, I have,” said the wood-chopper, stoutly; “I can 
say that I have, and tell no lie.” 


THE PIONEERS 


263 


“Did’ee ever see a British ship, Master Kirby? an 
English line - of - battle ship, hoy ? Whereaway did ’ee 
ever fall in with a regular built vessel, with starn-post 
and cut-water, garboard streak and plank-shear, gang- 
ways, and hatchways, and waterways, quarter-deck and 
forecastle, . aye, and flush-deck ? — tell me that, man, if 
you can; whereaway did ’ee ever fall in with a full rigged, 
regular built decked vessel ? ” 

The whole company were a good deal astounded with 
this overwhelming question, and even Richard afterwards 
remarked, that “It was a thousand pities that Benjamin 
could not read, or he must have made a valuable officer 
to the British marine. It is no wonder that they over- 
came the French so easily on the water, when even the 
lowest sailor so well understood the different parts of a 
vessel.” But Billy Kirby was a fearless wight, and had 
great jealousy of foreign dictation; he had arisen on his 
feet, and turned his back to the fire, during the voluble 
delivery of this interrogatory — and when the steward 
ended, contrary to all expectation, he gave the following 
spirited reply : — 

“ Where ! why, on the North River, and maybe on 
Champlain. There ’s sloops on the river, boy, that 
would give a hard time on ’t to the stoutest vessel King 
George owns. They carry masts of ninety feet in the 
clear, of good solid pine, for I ’ve been at the chopping 
of many a one in Yarmount State. I wish I was captain 
in one of them, and you was in that Board-dish that you 
talk so much about; and we ’d soon see what good Yankee 
stuff is made on, and whether a Varmounter’s hide ain’t 
as thick as an Englishman’s.” 

The echoes from the opposite hills, which were more 
than half a mile from the fishing point, sent back the dis- 
cordant laugh that Benjamin gave forth at this challenge; 
and the woods that covered their sides seemed, by the 
noise that issued from their shades, to be full of mocking 
demons. 

“Let us descend to the shore,” whispered Marmaduke, 
“or there will soon be ill- blood between them. Benjamin 


264 


THE PIONEERS 


is a fearless boaster; and Kirby, though good-natured, is 
a careless son of the forest, who thinks one American 
more than a match for six Englishmen. I marvel that 
Dickon is silent, where there is such a trial of skill in 
the superlative ! ” 

The appearance of Judge Temple and the ladies pro- 
duced, if not a pacification, at least a cessation of hostili- 
ties. Obedient to the directions of Mr. Jones, the fisher- 
men prepared to launch their boat, which had been seen 
in the background of the view, with the net carefully dis- 
posed on a little platform in its stern, ready for service. 
Bichard gave vent to his reproaches at the tardiness of 
the pedestrians, when all the turbulent passions of the 
party were succeeded by a calm, as mild and as placid as 
that which prevailed over the beautiful sheet of water that 
they were about to rifle of its best treasures. 

The night had now become so dark as to render ob- 
jects without the reach of the light of the fire not only 
indistinct, but in most cases invisible. For a little dis- 
tance the water was discernible, glistening as the glare 
from the fire danced over its surface, touching it here 
and there with red quivering streaks; but at a hundred 
feet from the shore, there lay a boundary of impenetrable 
gloom. One or two stars were shining through the open- 
ings of the clouds, and the lights were seen in the village, 
glimmering faintly, as if at an immeasurable distance. At 
times, as the fire lowered or as the horizon cleared, the 
outline of the mountain, on the other side of the lake, 
might be traced by its undulations; but its shadow was 
cast, wide and dense, on the bosom of the water, render- 
ing the darkness in that direction trebly deep. 

Benjamin Pump was invariably the cockswain and net- 
caster of Bichard’s boat, unless the Sheriff saw fit to pre- 
side in person ; and on the present occasion Billy Kirby, 
and a youth of about half his strength, were assigned to 
the oars. The remainder of the assistants were stationed 
at the drag ropes. The arrangements were speedily made, 
and Bichard gave the signal to “shove off.” 

Elizabeth watched the motion of the batteau as it pulled 


THE PIONEERS 


265 


from the shore, letting loose its rope as it went, but it 
soon disappeared in the darkness, when the ear was her 
only guide to its evolutions. There was great affectation 
of stillness during all these manoeuvres, in order, as Rich- 
ard assured them, “ not to frighten the bass, who were run- 
ning into the shoal waters, and who would approach the 
light if not disturbed by the sounds from the fishermen. ” 

The hoarse voice of Benjamin was alone heard issuing 
out of the gloom, as he uttered, in authoritative tones, 
“Pull larboard oar,” “Pull starboard,” “Give way to- 
gether, boys,” and such other dictative mandates as were 
necessary for the right disposition of his seine. A long 
time was passed in this necessary part of the process, for 
Benjamin prided himself greatly on his skill in throwing 
the net, and, in fact, most of the success of the sport de- 
pended on its being done with judgment. At length a 
loud splash in the water, as he threw away the “staff,” 
or “stretcher,” with a hoarse call from the steward, of 
“Clear,” announced that the boat was returning; when 
Richard seized a brand from the fire, and ran to a point 
as far above the centre of the fishing ground as the one 
from which the batteau had started was below it. 

“Stick her in dead for the Squire, boys,” said the 
steward, “and we’ll have a look at what grows in this 
here pond.” 

In place of the falling net were now to be heard the 
quick strokes of the oars, and the noise of the rope run- 
ning out of the boat. Presently the batteau shot into the 
circle of light, and in an instant she was pulled to shore. 
Several eager hands were extended to receive the line, and 
both ropes being equally well manned, the fishermen com- 
menced hauling in with slow and steady drags, Richard 
standing in the centre, giving orders, first to one party, 
and then to the other, to increase or slacken their efforts, 
as occasion required. The visitors were posted near him, 
and enjoyed a fair view of the whole operation, which 
was slowly advancing to an end. 

Opinions as to the result of their adventure were now 
freely hazarded by all the men, some declaring that the 


266 


THE PIONEERS 


net came in as light as a feather, and others affirming that 
it seemed to he full of logs. As the ropes were many 
hundred feet in length, these opposing sentiments were 
thought to be of little moment by the Sheriff, who would 
go first to one line and then to the other, giving each a 
small pull, in order to enable him to form an opinion for 
himself. 

“Why, Benjamin,” he cried, as he made his first effort 
in this way, “you did not throw the net clear. I can 
move it with my little finger. The rope slackens in my 
hand.” 

“Did you ever see a whale, Squire?” responded the 
steward. “I say that if that there net is foul, the devil 
is in the lake in the shape of a fish, for I cast it as fair 
as ever rigging was rove over the quarter-deck of a flag- 
ship. ” 

But Bichard discovered his mistake, when he saw Billy 
Kirby before him, standing with his feet in the water, at 
an angle of forty-five degrees, inclining shorewards, and 
expending his gigantic strength in sustaining himself in 
that posture. He ceased his remonstrances, and proceeded 
to the party at the other line. 

“I see the ‘staffs,’” shouted Mr. Jones; “gather in, 
hoys, and away with it ; to shore with her ! — to shore 
with her ! ” 

At this cheerful sound, Elizabeth strained her eyes and 
saw the ends of the two sticks on the seine emerging from 
the darkness, while the men closed near to each other, 
and formed a deep hag of their net. The exertions of 
the fishermen sensibly increased, and the voice of Bichard 
was heard encouraging them to make their greatest efforts 
at the present moment. 

“Now ’s the time, my lads,” he cried; “let us get the 
ends to land, and all we have will be our own — away 
with her ! ” 

“Away with her, it is,” echoed Benjamin; “hurrah! 
ho-a-hoy, ho-a-hoy, ho-a ! ” 

“ In with her ! ” shouted Kirby, exerting himself in a 
manner that left nothing for those in his rear to do hut 


THE PIONEERS 


267 


to gather up the slack of the rope which passed through 
his hands. 

“ Staff, ho ! ” shouted the steward. 

“ Staff, ho ! ” echoed Kirby, from the other rope. 

The men rushed to the water’s edge, some seizing the 
upper rope and some the lower or lead-rope, and began 
to haul with great activity and zeal. A deep semicir- 
cular sweep of the little balls that supported the seine in 
its perpendicular position, was plainly visible to the spec- 
tators, and, as it rapidly lessened in size, the hag of the 
net appeared, while an occasional flutter on the water an- 
nounced the uneasiness of the prisoners it contained. 

“Haul in, my lads,” shouted Richard; “I can see the 
dogs kicking to get free. Haul in, and here ’s a cast that 
will pay for the labor.” 

Fishes of various sorts were now to be seen, entangled 
in the meshes of the net, as it was passed through the 
hands of the laborers; and the water, at a little distance 
from the shore, was alive with the movements of the 
alarmed victims. Hundreds of white sides were glancing 
up to the surface of the water, and glistening in the fire- 
light, when, frightened at the uproar and the change, the 
fish would again dart to the bottom, in fruitless efforts for 
freedom. 

“ Hurrah ! ” shouted Richard ; “ one or two more heavy 
drags, boys, and we are safe.” 

“Cheerily, boys, cheerily!” cried Benjamin; “I see 
a salmon- trout that is big enough for a chowder.” 

“ Away with you, you varmint ! ” said Billy Kirby, 
plucking a bull-pout from the meshes, and casting the 
animal back into the lake with contempt. “Pull, boys, 
pull! here’s all kinds, and the Lord condemn me for a 
liar if there ain’t a thousand bass! ” 

Inflamed beyond the bounds of discretion at the sight, 
and forgetful of the season, the wood-chopper rushed to 
his middle into the water, and began to drive the reluct- 
ant animals before him from their native element. 

“Pull heartily, boys,” cried Marmaduke, yielding to 
the excitement of the moment, and laying his hands to 


268 


THE PIONEERS 


the net, with no trifling addition to the force. Edwards 
had preceded him; for the sight of the immense piles of 
fish, that were slowly rolling over on the gravelly beach, 
had impelled him also to leave the ladies and join the 
fishermen. 

Great care was observed in bringing the net to land, 
and after much toil the whole shoal of victims was safely 
deposited in a hollow of the bank, where they were left 
to flutter away their brief existence in the new and fatal 
element. 

Even Elizabeth and Louisa were greatly excited and 
highly gratified by seeing two thousand captives thus 
drawn from the bosom of the lake and laid prisoners at 
their feet. But when the feelings of the moment were 
passing away, Marmaduke took in his hands a bass that 
might have weighed two pounds, and after viewing it a 
moment, in melancholy musing, he turned to his daugh- 
ter, and observed : — 

“This is a fearful expenditure of the choicest gifts of 
Providence. These fish, Bess, which thou seest lying in 
such piles before thee, and which by to-morrow evening 
will be rejected food on the meanest table in Templeton, 
are of a quality and flavor that in other countries would 
make them esteemed a luxury on the tables of princes or 
epicures. The world has no better fish than the bass of 
Otsego : it unites the richness of the shad 1 to the firmness 
of the salmon.” 

“But surely, dear sir,” cried Elizabeth, “they must 
prove a great blessing to the country, and a powerful 
friend to the poor.” 

“The poor are always prodigal, my child, where there 
is plenty, and seldom think of a provision against the 
morrow. But if there can be any excuse for destroying 
animals in this manner, it is in taking the bass. During 
the winter, you know, they are entirely protected from 
our assaults by the ice — for they refuse the hook ; and 
during the hot months they are not seen. It is supposed 

1 Of all the fish the writer has ever tasted, he thinks the one in ques- 
tion the best. See Appendix, Note E. 


THE PIONEERS 


269 


they retreat to the deep and cool waters of the lake, at 
that season; and it is only in the spring and antumn, 
that, for a few days, they are to be found around the 
points where they are within the reach of a seine. But, 
like all the other treasures of the wilderness, they already 
begin to disappear before the wasteful extravagance of 
man.” 

“Disappear, ’Duke! disappear!” exclaimed the Sheriff; 
“if you don’t call this appearing, I know not what you 
will. Here are a good thousand of the shiners, some 
hundreds of suckers, and a powerful quantity of other fry. 
But this is always the way with you, Marmaduke; first 
it ’s the trees, then it ’s the deer, after that it ’s the maple- 
sugar, and so on to the end of the chapter. One day you 
talk of canals through a country where there ’s a river or 
a lake every half mile, just because the water won’t run 
the way you wish it to go; and the next, you say some- 
thing about mines of coal, though any man who has good 
eyes like myself — I say with good eyes — can see more 
wood than would keep the city of London in fuel for fifty 
years; wouldn’t it, Benjamin?” 

“Why, for .that, Squire,” said the steward, “Lon’on 
is no small place. If it was stretched an end, all the same 
as a town on one side of the river, it would cover some 
such matter as this here lake. Tho’ ’f I dar’st to say, that 
the wood in sight might sarve them a good turn, seeing 
that the Lon’ oners mainly burn coal.” 

“How we are on the subject of coal, Judge Temple,” 
interrupted the Sheriff, “I have a thing of much import- 
ance to communicate to you; but I will defer it until 
to-morrow. I know that you intend riding into the eastern 
part of the Patent, and I will accompany you, and con- 
duct you to a spot where some of your projects may he 
realized. We will say no more now, for there are listen- 
ers; hut a secret has this evening been revealed to me, 
’Duke, that is of more consequence to your welfare than 
all your estate united.” 

Marmaduke laughed at the important intelligence, to 
which in a variety of shapes he was accustomed, and the 


270 


THE PIONEERS 


Sheriff, with an air of great dignity, as if pitying his 
want of faith, proceeded in the business more immediately 
before them. As the labor of drawing the net had been 
very great, he directed one party of his men to commence 
throwing the fish into piles, preparatory to the usual divi- 
sion, while another, under the superintendence of Benja- 
min, prepared the seine for a second haul. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

While from its margin, terrible to tell ! 

Three sailors with their gallant boatswain fell. 

Falconer. 


While the fishermen were employed in making the 
preparations for an equitable division of the spoil, Eliza- 
beth and her friend strolled a short distance from the 
group, along the shore of the lake. After reaching a 
point to which even the brightest of the occasional gleams 
of the fire did not extend, they turned, and paused a mo- 
ment, in contemplation of the busy and lively party they 
had left, and of the obscurity which, like the gloom of 
oblivion, seemed to envelop the rest of the creation. 

“This is indeed a subject for the pencil !” exclaimed 
Elizabeth. “ Observe the countenance of that wood-chop- 
per, while he exults in presenting a larger fish than com- 
mon to my cousin Sheriff ; and see, Louisa, how handsome 
and considerate my dear father looks, by the light of that 
fire where he stands viewing the havoc of the game. He 
seems melancholy, as if he actually thought that a day of 
retribution was to follow this hour of abundance and pro- 
digality! Would they not make a picture, Louisa?” 

“ You know that I am ignorant of all such accomplish- 
ments, Miss Temple.” 

“Call me by my Christian name,” interrupted Eliza- 
beth; “this is not a place, neither is this a scene, for 
forms. ” 

“Well, then, if I may venture an opinion,” said Louisa, 
timidly, “ I should think it might indeed make a picture. 


THE PIONEERS 


271 


The selfish earnestness of that Kirby over his fish would 
contrast finely with the — the — expression of Mr. Ed- 
wards’ face. I hardly know what to call it ; but it is — 
a — is — you know what I would say, dear Elizabeth. ” 

“You do me too much credit, Miss Grant,” said the 
heiress; “I am no diviner of thoughts, or interpreter of 
expressions.” 

There was certainly nothing harsh, or even cold, in the 
manner of the speaker, but still it repressed the conversa- 
tion, and they continued to stroll still further from the 
party — retaining each other’s arm, but observing a pro- 
found silence. Elizabeth, perhaps conscious of the im- 
proper phraseology of her last speech, or perhaps excited 
by the new object that met her gaze, was the first to 
break the awkward cessation in the discourse, by exclaim- 
ing:— 

“Look, Louisa! we are not alone; there are fisher- 
men lighting a fire on the other side of the lake, immedi- 
ately opposite to us; it must he in front of the cabin of 
Leather-Stocking ! ” 

Through the obscurity, which prevailed most immedi- 
ately under the eastern mountain, a small and uncertain 
light was plainly to be seen, though, as it was occasionally 
lost to the eye, it seemed struggling for existence. They 
observed it to move, and sensibly to lower, as if carried 
down the descent of the bank to the shore. Here, in a 
yery short time, its flame gradually expanded and grew 
brighter until it became of the size of a man’s head, when 
it continued to shine, a steady hall of fire. 

Such an object, lighted as it were by magic, under the 
brow of the mountain, and in that retired and unfre- 
quented place, gave double interest to the beauty and sin- 
gularity of its appearance. It did not at all resemble 
the large and unsteady light of their own fire, being much 
more clear and bright, and retaining its size and shape with 
perfect uniformity. 

There are moments when the best regulated minds are 
more or less subjected to the injurious impressions which 
few have escaped in infancy; and Elizabeth smiled at her 


272 


THE PIONEERS 


own weakness, while she remembered the idle tales which 
were circulated through the village, at the expense of the 
Leather-Stocking. The same ideas seized her companion, 
and at the same instant, for Louisa pressed nearer to her 
friend, as she said in a low voice, stealing a timid glance 
towards the bushes and trees that overhung the hank near 
them : — 

“Did you ever hear the singular ways of this Natty 
spoken of, Miss Temple? They say that, in his youth, 
he was an Indian warrior; or, what is the same thing, a 
white man leagued with the savages; and it is thought 
he has been concerned in many of their inroads, in the old 
wars. ” 

“The thing is not at all improbable, ” returned Eliza- 
beth; “he is not alone in that particular.” 

“ No, surely ; but is it not strange that he is so cautious 
with his hut? He never leaves it, without fastening it 
in a remarkable manner; and in several instances, when 
the children or even the men of the village have wished 
to seek a shelter there from the storms, he has been known 
to drive them from his door with rudeness and threats. 
That, surely, is singular in this country ! ” 

“It is certainly not very hospitable; but we must re- 
member his aversion to the customs of civilized life. You 
heard my father say, a few days since, how kindly he was 
treated by him on his first visit to this place.” Elizabeth 
paused and smiled, with an expression of peculiar arch- 
ness, though the darkness hid its meaning from her com- 
panion, as she continued, “Besides, he certainly admits 
the visits of Mr. Edwards, whom we both know to be far 
from a savage.” 

To this speech Louisa made no reply; but continued 
gazing on the object which had elicited her remarks. In 
addition to the bright and circular flame was now to be 
seen a fainter, though a vivid light, of an equal diameter 
to the other at the upper end ; but which, after extend- 
ing downwards for many feet, gradually tapered to a point 
at its lower extremity. A dark space was plainly visible 
between the two; and the new illumination was placed 


THE PIONEERS 


273 


beneath the other; the whole forming an appearance not 
unlike an inverted note of admiration. It was soon evi- 
dent that the latter was nothing but the reflection, from 
the water, of the former; and that the object, whatever 
it might be, was advancing across, or rather over, the 
lake, for it seemed to be several feet above its surface, in 
a direct line with themselves. Its motion was amazingly 
rapid, the ladies having hardly discovered that it was 
moving at all, before the waving light of a flame was dis- 
cerned, losing its regular shape, while it increased in size 
as it approached. 

“ It appears to be supernatural ! ” whispered Louisa, 
beginning to retrace her steps towards the party. 

“ It is beautiful ! ” exclaimed Elizabeth. 

A brilliant, though waving flame, was now plainly visi- 
ble, gracefully gliding over the lake and throwing its light 
on the water in such a manner as to tinge it slightly — 
though in the air, so strong was the contrast, the darkness 
seemed to have the distinctness of material substances, as 
if the fire were embedded in a setting of ebony. This 
appearance, however, gradually wore off; and the rays 
from the torch struck out, and enlightened the atmosphere 
in front of it, leaving the background in a darkness that 
was more impenetrable than ever. 

“Ho! Natty, is that you? ” shouted the Sheriff. 
“Paddle in, old boy, and I ’ll give you a mess of fish that 
is fit to place before the governor. ” 

The light suddenly changed its direction, and a long 
and Slightly- built boat hove up out of the gloom, while 
the red glare fell on the weather-beaten features of the 
Leather-Stocking, whose tall person was seen erect in the 
frail vessel, wielding, with the grace of an experienced 
boatman, a long fishing-spear, which he held by its centre, 
first dropping one end and then the other into the water 
to aid in propelling the little canoe of bark, we will not 
say through, but over, the water. At the further end of 
the vessel a form was faintly seen, guiding its motions, 
and using a paddle with the ease of one who felt there 
was no necessity for exertion. The Leather- Stocking 


274 


THE PIONEERS 


struck his spear lightly against the short staff which up- 
held, on a rude grating framed of old hoops of iron, the 
knots of pine that composed the fuel — and the light, 
which glared high, for an instant fell on the swarthy fea- 
tures and dark, glancing eyes of Mohegan. 

The boat glided along the shore until it arrived opposite 
the fishing-ground, when it again changed its direction, 
and moved on to the land, with a motion so graceful and 
yet so rapid that it seemed to possess the power of regu- 
lating its own progress. The water in front of the canoe 
was hardly ruffled by its passage, and no sound betrayed 
the collision, when the light fabric shot on the gravelly 
beach for nearly half its length, Natty receding a step or 
two from its bow in order to facilitate the landing. 

“Approach, Mohegan,” said Marmaduke; “approach, 
Leather- Stocking, and load your canoe with bass. It 
would be a shame to assail the animals with the spear, 
when such multitudes of victims lie here that will be lost 
as food for the want of mouths to consume them.” 

“No, no, Judge,” returned Natty, his tall figure stalk- 
ing over the narrow beach, and ascending to the little 
grassy bottom where the fish were laid in piles: “I eat 
of no man’s wasty ways. I strike my spear into the eels 
or the trout, when I crave the creatur’s; but I wouldn’t 
be helping to such a sinful kind of fishing for the best 
rifle that was ever brought out from the old countries. 
If they had fur, like a beaver, or you could tan their 
hides, like a buck, something might be said in favor of 
taking them by the thousands with your nets ; but as God 
made them for man’s food, and for no other dis’arnable 
reason, I call it sinful and w r asty to catch more than can 
be eat.” 

“ Your reasoning is mine : for once, old hunter, we agree 
in opinion; and I heartily wish we could make a convert 
of the Sheriff. A net of half the size of this would sup- 
ply the whole village with fish for a week at one haul.” 

The Leather-Stocking did not relish this alliance in 
sentiment; and he shook his head doubtingly, as he an- 
swered : — 


THE PIONEERS 


275 


“No, no; we are not much of one mind, Judge, or 
you ’d never turn good hunting-grounds into stumpy pas- 
tures. And you fish and hunt out of rule; but, to me, 
the flesh is sweeter where the creatur’ has some chance 
for its life: for that reason, I always use a single ball, 
even if it be at a bird or a squirrel. Besides, it saves 
lead; for, when a body knows how to shoot, one piece of 
lead is enough for all except hard-lived animals.” 

The Sheriff heard these opinions with great indigna- 
tion ; and when he completed the last arrangement for the 
division, by carrying, with his own hands, a trout of a 
large size, and placing it on four different piles in succes- 
sion, as his vacillating ideas of justice required, he gave 
vent to his spleen. 

“A very pretty confederacy, indeed! Judge Temple, 
the landlord and owner of a township, with Nathaniel 
Bumppo, a lawless squatter, and professed deer-killer, in 
order to preserve the game of the county! But, ’Duke, 
when I fish, I fish; so, away, boys, for another haul, and 
we ’ll send out wagons and carts in the morning, to bring 
in our prizes.” 

Marmaduke appeared to understand that all opposition 
to the will of the Sheriff would be useless ; and he strolled 
from the fire to the place where the canoe of the hunters 
lay, whither the ladies and Oliver Edwards had already 
preceded him. 

Curiosity induced the females to approach this spot; 
but it was a different motive that led the youth thither. 
Elizabeth examined the light ashen timbers and thin bark 
covering of the canoe, in admiration of its neat but simple 
execution, and with wonder that any human being could 
be so daring as to trust his life in so frail a vessel. But 
the youth explained to her the buoyant properties of the 
boat, and its perfect safety when under proper manage- 
ment; adding, in such glowing terms, a description of the 
manner in which the fish were struck with the spear, that 
she changed suddenly, from an apprehension «of the danger 
of the excursion, to a desire to participate in its pleasures. 
She even ventured a proposition to that effect to her 


276 


THE PIONEERS 


father, laughing at the same time at her own wish, and 
accusing herself of acting under a woman’s caprice. 

“Say not so, Bess,” returned the Judge: “I would 
have you above the idle fears of a silly girl. These canoes 
are the safest kind of boats to those who have skill and 
steady nerves. I have crossed the broadest part of the 
Oneida in one much smaller than this.” 

“And I the Ontary,” interrupted the Leather-Stocking; 
“and that with squaws in the canoe, too. But the Dela- 
ware women are used to the paddle, and are good hands 
in a boat of this naturk If the young lady would like to 
see an old man strike a trout for his breakfast, she is wel- 
come to a seat. John will say the same, seeing that he 
built the canoe, which was only launched yesterday: for 
I ’m not over cur’ous at such small work as brooms, and 
basket-making, and other like Indian trades.” 

Natty gave Elizabeth one of his significant laughs with 
a kind nod of the head, when he concluded his invita- 
tion: but Mohegan, with the native grace of an Indian, 
approached, and taking her soft white hand into his own 
swarthy and wrinkled palm, said : — 

“Come, granddaughter of Miquon, and John will be 
glad. Trust the Indian; his head is old, though his hand 
is not steady. The Young Eagle will go, and see that no 
harm hurts his sister.” 

“Mr. Edwards,” said Elizabeth, blushing slightly, 
“your friend Mohegan has given a promise for you. Do 
you redeem the pledge ? ” 

“With my life, if necessary, Miss Temple,” cried the 
youth, with fervor. “The sight is worth some little ap- 
prehension; for of real danger there is none. I will go 
with you and Miss Grant, however, to save appearances.” 

“With me!” exclaimed Louisa. “No, not with me, 
Mr. Edwards ; nor, surely, do you mean to trust yourself 
in that slight canoe.” 

“ But I shall ; for I have no apprehensions any longer, ” 
said Elizabeth, stepping into the boat, and taking a seat 
where the Indian directed. 

“Mr. Edwards, you may remain, as three do seem to be 
enough for such an egg-shell.” 


THE PIONEERS 


277 


“ It shall hold a fourth, ” cried the young man, spring- 
ing to her side, with a violence that nearly shook the 
weak fabric of the vessel asunder. “Pardon me, Miss 
Temple, that I do not permit these venerable Charons 
to take you to the shades unattended by your genius. ” 

“ Is it a good or evil spirit ? ” asked Elizabeth. 

“ Good to you. 99 

“And mine,” added the maiden, with an air that 
strangely blended pique with satisfaction. But the mo- 
tion of the canoe gave rise to new ideas, and fortunately 
afforded a good excuse to the young man to change the 
discourse. 

It appeared to Elizabeth that they glided over the water 
by magic, so easy and graceful was the manner in which 
Mohegan guided his little bark. A slight gesture with 
his spear indicated the way in which the Leather- Stocking' 
wished to go, and a profound silence was preserved by 
the whole party, as a precaution necessary to the success 
of their fishery. At that point of the lake the water 
shoaled regularly, differing in this particular altogether 
from those parts where the mountains rose, nearly in per- 
pendicular precipices, from the beach. There the largest 
vessels could have lain, with their yards interlocked with 
the pines; while here a scanty growth of rushes lifted 
their tops above the lake, gently curling the waters, as 
their bending heads waved with the passing breath of the 
night air. It was at the shallow points, only, that the 
bass could be found, or the net cast with success. 

Elizabeth saw thousands of these fish swimming in 
shoals along the shallow and warm waters of the shore; 
for the flaring light of their torch laid bare the mysteries 
of the lake, as plainly as if the limpid sheet of the Otsego 
was but another atmosphere. Every instant she expected 
to see the impending spear of Leather-Stocking darting 
into the thronging hosts that were rushing beneath her, 
where it would seem that a. blow could not go amiss; and 
where, as her father had already said, the prize that would 
be obtained was worthy any epicure. Natty had his pe- 
culiar habits, and, it would seem, his peculiar tastes also. 


278 


THE PIONEERS 


His tall stature, and his erect posture, enabled him to see 
much further than those who were seated in the bottom of 
the canoe; and he turned his head wearily in every direc- 
tion, frequently bending his body forward, and straining 
his vision, as if desirous of penetrating the water that sur- 
rounded their boundary of light. At length his anxious 
scrutiny was rewarded with success, and, waving his spear 
from the shore, he said in a cautious tone : — 

“Send her outside the bass, John; I see a laker there, 
that has run out of the school. It ’s seldom one finds 
such a creatur’ in shallow water, where a spear can touch 
it.” 

Mohegan gave a wave of assent with his hand, and in 
the next instant the canoe was without the “run of the 
bass,” and in water nearly twenty feet in depth. A few 
additional knots were laid on the grating, and the light 
penetrated to the bottom. Elizabeth then saw a fish of 
unusual size floating above small pieces of logs and sticks. 
The animal was only distinguishable, at that distance, by 
a slight but almost imperceptible motion of its fins and 
tail. The curiosity excited by this unusual exposure of 
the secrets of the lake seemed to be mutual between the 
heiress of the land and the lord of these waters, for the 
“ salmon-trout ” soon announced his interest by raising his 
head and body for a few degrees above a horizontal line, 
and then dropping them again into a horizontal position. 

“ Whist ! whist ! ” said Natty, in a low voice, on hear- 
ing a slight sound made by Elizabeth in bending over the 
side of the canoe in curiosity; “’tis a skeary animal, and 
it ’s a far stroke for a spear. My handle is but fourteen 
foot, and the creater lies a good eighteen from the top of 
water; but I ’ll try him, for he’s a ten-pounder.” 

While speaking, the Leather-Stocking was poising and 
directing his weapon. Elizabeth saw the bright, polished 
tines, as they slowly and silently entered the water, where 
the refraction pointed them many degrees from the true 
direction of the fish; and she thought that the intended 
victim saw them also, as he seemed to increase the play 
of his tail and fins, though without moving his station. 


THE PIONEERS 


279 


At the next instant the tall body of Natty bent to the 
water’s edge, and the handle of his spear disappeared in the 
lake. The long, dark streak of the gliding weapon, and 
the little bubbling vortex which followed its rapid flight, 
were easily to be seen; but it was not until the handle 
shot again into the air by its own reaction, and its master, 
catching it in his hand, threw its tines uppermost, that 
Elizabeth was acquainted with the success of the blow. 
A fish of great size was transfixed by the barbed steel, and 
was very soon shaken from its impaled situation into the 
bottom of the canoe. 

“That will do, John,” said Natty, raising his prize by 
one of his fingers, and exhibiting it before the torch; “I 
shall not strike another blow to-night.” 

The Indian again waved his hand, and replied with the 
simple and energetic monosyllable of — 

“Good!” 

Elizabeth was awakened from the trance created by this 
scene, and by gazing in that unusual manner at the bot- 
tom of the lake, by the hoarse sounds of Benjamin’s voice, 
and the dashing of oars, as the heavier boat of the seine- 
drawers approached the spot where the canoe lay, dragging 
after it the folds of the net. 

“Haul off, haul off, Master Bumppo,” cried Benjamin; 
“your top-light frightens the fish, who see the net and 
sheer off soundings. A fish knows as much as a horse, 
or, for that matter, more, seeing that it ’s brought up on 
the water. Haul off, Master Bumppo! haul off, I say, 
and give a wide berth to the seine.” 

Mohegan guided their little canoe to a point where the 
movements of the fishermen could be observed without 
interruption to the business, and then suffered it to lie 
quietly on the water, looking like an imaginary vessel float- 
ing in air. There appeared to be much ill-humor among 
the party in the batteau, for the directions of Benjamin 
were not only frequent, but issued in a voice that partook 
largely of dissatisfaction. , 

“Pull larboard oar, will ye, Master Kirby?” cried the 
old seaman; “pull larboard best. It would puzzle the 


280 


THE PIONEEES 


oldest admiral in the British fleet to cast this here net 
fair, with a wake like a corkscrew. Pull starboard, boy, 
pull starboard oar, with a will.” 

“Harkee, Mister Pump,” said Kirby, ceasing to row, 
and speaking with some spirit; “I’m a man that likes 
civil language and decent treatment, such as is right ’twixt 
man and man. If you want us to go hoy, say so, and 
hoy I ’ll go, for the benefit of the company; hut I ’m not 
used to being ordered about like dumb cattle.” 

“Who ’s dumb cattle ? ” echoed Benjamin fiercely, turn- 
ing his forbidding face to the glare of light from the canoe 
and exhibiting every feature teeming with the expression 
of disgust. “If you want to come aft and cun the boat 
round, come and he damned, and pretty steerage you ’ll 
make of it. There ’s hut another heave of the net in the 
stern-sheets, and we ’re clear of the thing. Give way, 
will ye? and shoot her ahead for a fathom or two, and 
if you catch me afloat again with such a horse-marine as 
yourself, why rate me a ship’s jackass, that ’s all.” 

Probably encouraged by the prospect of a speedy termi- 
nation to his labor, the wood-chopper resumed his oar, 
and under strong excitement gave a stroke that not only 
cleared the boat of the net, hut of the steward, at the same 
instant. Benjamin had stood on the little platform that 
held the seine, in the stern of the boat, and the violent 
whirl occasioned by the vigor of the wood-chopper’s arm 
completely destroyed his balance. The position of the 
lights rendered objects in the batteau distinguishable, both 
from the canoe and the shore ; and the heavy fall on the 
water drew all eyes to the steward, as he lay struggling, 
for a moment, in sight. 

A loud burst of merriment, to which the lungs of Kirby 
contributed no small part, broke out like a chorus of 
laughter, and rang along the eastern mountain in echoes, 
until it died away in distant, mocking mirth among the 
rocks and woods. The body of the steward was seen 
slowly to disappear, as was expected; but when the light 
waves, which had been raised by his fall, began to sink 
in calmness, and the water finally closed over his head, 


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281 


unbroken and still, a very different feeling pervaded the 
spectators. 

“How fare you, Benjamin?” shouted Richard from 
the shore. 

“The dumb devil can’t swim a stroke!” exclaimed 
Kirby, rising, and beginning to throw aside his clothes. 

“Paddle up, Mohegan,” cried young Edwards, “the 
light will show us where he lies, and I will dive for the 
body. ” 

“Oh, save him! for God’s sake, save him!” exclaimed 
Elizabeth, bowing her head on the side of the canoe in 
horror. 

A powerful and dexterous sweep of Mohegan ’s paddle 
sent the canoe directly over the spot where the steward 
had fallen, and a loud shout from the Leather- Stocking 
announced that he saw the body. 

“ Steady the boat while I dive, ” again cried Edwards. 

“Gently, lad, gently,” said Natty; “I’ll spear the 
creatur’ up in half the time, and no risk to anybody.” 

The form of Benjamin was lying, about halfway to the 
bottom, grasping with both hands some broken rushes. 
The blood of Elizabeth curdled to her heart, as she saw 
the figure of a fellow-creature thus extended under an im- 
mense sheet of water, apparently in motion by the undu- 
lations of the dying waves, with its face and hands, viewed 
by that light, and through the medium of the fluid, already 
colored with hues like death. 

At the same instant, she saw the shining tines of Natty’s 
spear approaching the head of the sufferer, and entwining 
themselves, rapidly and dexterously, in the hairs of his 
queue and the cape of his coat. The body was now raised 
slowly, looking ghastly and grim, as its features turned 
upwards to the light, and approached the surface. The 
arrival of the nostrils of Benjamin into their’ own atmo- 
sphere was announced by a breathing that would have 
done credit to a porpoise. For a moment, Natty held the 
steward suspended, with his head just above the water, 
while his eyes slowly opened and stared about him, as if 
he thought that he had reached a new and unexplored 
country. 


282 


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As all the parties acted and spoke together, much less 
time was consumed in the occurrence of these events than 
in their narration. To bring the batteau to the end of the 
spear, and to raise the form of Benjamin into the boat, 
and for the whole party to gain the shore, required hut a 
minute. Kirby, aided by Richard, whose anxiety induced 
him to run into the water to meet his favorite assistant, 
carried the motionless steward up the bank, and seated 
him before the fire, while the Sheriff proceeded to order 
the most approved measures then in use for the resuscita- 
tion of the drowned. 

“Run, Billy, ” he cried, “to the village, and bring up 
the rum-hogshead that lies before the door, in which I 
am making vinegar, and be quick, boy, don’t stay to 
empty the vinegar; and stop at Mr. Le Quoi’s, and buy 
a paper of tobacco and half-a-dozen pipes; and ask Re- 
markable for some salt, and one of her flannel petticoats; 
and ask Dr. Todd to send his lancet, and to come himself; 
and — ha! ’Duke, what are you about? would you stran- 
gle a man who is full of water, by giving him rum ! Help 
me to open his hand, that I may pat it.” 

All this time Benjamin sat, with his muscles fixed, his 
mouth shut, and his hands clenching the rushes, which he 
had seized in the confusion of the moment, .and which, as 
he held fast, like a true seaman, had been the means of 
preventing his body from rising again to the surface. His 
eyes, however, were open, and stared wildly on the group 
about the fire, while his lungs were playing like a black- 
smith’s bellows, as if to compensate themselves for the 
minute of inaction to which they had been subjected. As 
he kept his lips compressed, with a most inveterate deter- 
mination, the air was compelled to pass through his nos- 
trils, and he rather snorted than breathed, and in such a 
manner, that nothing but the excessive agitation of the 
Sheriff could at all justify his precipitous orders. 

The bottle, applied to the steward’s lips by Marma- 
duke, acted like a charm. His mouth opened instinc- 
tively ; his hands dropped the rushes, and seized the glass ; 
his eyes raised from their horizontal stare to the heavens; 


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283 


and the whole man was lost for a moment, in a new sen- 
sation. Unhappily for the propensity of the steward, 
breath was as necessary after one of these draughts as 
after his submersion, and the time at length arrived when 
he was compelled to let go the bottle. 

“Why, Benjamin!” roared the Sheriff; “you amaze 
me! for a man of your experience in drownings to act so 
foolishly! just now you were half full of water, and now 
you are ” — 

“Full of grog,” interrupted the steward, his features 
settling down, with amazing flexibility, into their natural 
economy. “ But, d’ ye see, Squire, I kept my hatches 
close, and it is but little water that ever gets into my 
scuttle-but. Harkee, Master Kirby! I’ve followed the 
salt water for the better part of a man’s life, and have 
seen some navigation on the fresh ; but this here matter 
I will say in your favor, and that is, that you ’re the 
awk’ardest green ’un that ever straddled a boat’s thwart. 
Them that likes you for a shipmate may sail with you 
and no thanks; but damme if I even walk on the lake 
shore in your company. For why? you’d as lief drown 
a man as one of them there fish ; not to throw a Christian 
creature so much as a rope’s end, when he was adrift, and 
no life-buoy in sight! Natty Bumppo, give us your fist. 
There ’s them that says you ’re an Indian, and a scalper, 
but you ’ve served me a good turn, and you may set me 
down for a friend; tho’ ’f it would have been more ship- 
shape to lower the bight of a rope, or running bowline, 
below me, than to seize an old seaman by his head-lan- 
yard; but I suppose you are used to taking men by the 
hair, and seeing you did me good instead of harm thereby, 
why, it ’s the same thing, d’ ye see.” 

Marmaduke prevented any reply, and assuming the di- 
rection of matters with a dignity and discretion that at 
once silenced all opposition from his cousin, Benjamin was 
dispatched to the village by land, and the net was hauled 
to shore in such a manner, that the fish for once escaped 
its meshes with impunity. 

The division of the spoils was made in the ordinary 


284 


THE PIONEERS 


manner, by placing one of the party with his back to the 
game, who named the owner of each pile. Billy Kirby 
stretched his large frame on the grass by the side of the 
fire, as sentinel until morning, over net and fish ; and the 
remainder of the party embarked in the batteau, to return 
to the village. 

The wood-chopper was seen broiling his supper on the 
coals as they lost sight of the fire; and when the boat 
approached the shore, the torch of Mohegan’s canoe was 
shining again under the gloom of the eastern mountain. 
Its motion ceased suddenly ; a scattering of brands was in 
the air, and then all remained dark as the conjunction of 
night, forest, and mountain could render the scene. 

The thoughts of Elizabeth wandered from the youth, 
who was holding a canopy of shawls over herself and 
Louisa, to the hunter and the Indian warrior; and she 
felt an awakening curiosity to visit a hut, where men of 
such different habits and temperament were drawn to- 
gether as by common impulse. 


CHAPTEB XXV. 

Cease all this parlance about hills and dales ; 

None listen to thy scenes of boyish frolic, 

Fond dotard ! with such tickled ears as thou dost ; 
Come ! to thy tale. 

Duo, 


Mr. Jones arose on the following morning with the 
sun, and ordering his own and Marmaduke’s steeds to be 
saddled, he proceeded with a countenance big with some 
business of unusual moment, to the apartment of the 
Judge. The door was unfastened, and Bichard entered, 
with the freedom that characterized not only the inter- 
course between the cousins, but the ordinary manners of 
the Sheriff. 

“Well ’Duke, to horse,” he cried, “and I will explain 
to you my meaning in the allusions I made last night. 
David says, in the Psalms — no, it was Solomon, but it 


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285 


was all in the family — Solomon said there was a time for 
all things; and in my humble opinion, a fishing party is 
not the moment for discussing important subjects. Ha! 
why, what the devil ails you, Marmaduke? ain’t you well? 
let me feel your pulse ; my grandfather, you know ” — 

“Quite well in the body, Richard,” interrupted the 
Judge, repulsing his cousin, who was about to assume 
the functions that properly belonged to Dr. Todd; “but 
ill at heart. I received letters by the post of last night, 
after we returned from the point, and this among the 
number. ” 

The Sheriff took the letter, but without turning his eyes 
on the writing, for he was examining the appearance of 
the other with astonishment. From the face of his cousin 
the gaze of Richard wandered to the table, which was cov- 
ered with letters, packets, and newspapers; then to the 
apartment and all that it contained. On the bed there 
was the impression that had been made by a human form, 
but the coverings were unmoved, and everything indicated 
that the occupant of the room had passed a sleepless 
night. The candles had burned to the sockets, and had 
evidently extinguished themselves in their own fragments. 
Marmaduke had drawn his curtains, and opened both the 
shutters and the sashes, to admit the balmy air of a spring 
morning, but his pale cheek, his quivering lip, and his 
sunken eye presented altogether so very different an ap- 
pearance from the usual calm, manly, and cheerful aspect 
of the Judge, that the Sheriff grew each moment more and 
more bewildered with astonishment. At length Richard 
found time to cast his eyes on the direction of the letter, 
which he still held unopened, crumpling it in his hand. 

“ What ! a ship-letter ! ” he exclaimed ; “ and from Eng- 
land! Ha! ’Duke, there must be news of importance in- 
deed!” 

“Read it,” said Marmaduke, pacing the floor in exces- 
sive agitation. 

Richard, who commonly thought aloud,, was unable to 
read a letter without suffering part of its contents to es- 
cape him in audible sounds. So much of the epistle as 


286 


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was divulged in that manner, we shall lay before the 
reader, accompanied by the passing remarks of the Sher- 
iff: — 

‘“London, February 12th, 1793.’ What a devil of 
a passage she had ! but the wind has been northwest for 
six weeks, until within the last fortnight. 

“ ‘ Sir, your favors of August 10th, September 23d, and 
of December 1st, were received in due season, and the first 
answered by return of packet. Since the receipt of the 
last, I ’ ” — here a long passage was rendered indistinct, 
by a kind of humming noise made by the Sheriff. “ ‘ I 
grieve to say, that * — hum, hum, bad enough to be sure 
— ‘ but trust that a merciful Providence has seen fit ? — 
hum, hum, hum; seems to be a good pious sort of a man, 
’Duke; belongs to the Established Church, I dare say; 
hum, hum — ‘ vessel sailed from Falmouth on or about 
the 1st September of last year, and ’ — hum, hum, hum. 

‘ If anything should transpire on this afflicting subject 
shall not fail ’ — hum, hum, really a good-hearted man 
for a lawyer — ‘ hut can communicate nothing further at 
present ’ — hum, hum. ‘ The national convention ’ — 
hum, hum — ‘ unfortunate Louis ’ — hum, hum — ‘ exam- 
ple of your Washington ’ — a very sensible man, I declare, 
and none of your crazy democrats. Hum, hum, — ‘ our 
gallant navy ’ — hum, hum — ‘ under our most excellent 
monarch ’ — aye, a good man enough, that King George, 
but had advisers ; hum, hum — ‘ I beg to conclude with 
assurances of my perfect respect’ — hum, hum — ‘An- 
drew Holt.’ Andrew Holt — a very sensible, feeling 
man, this Mr. Andrew Holt — but the writer of evil tid- 
ings. What will you do next, cousin Marmaduke ? ” 

“What can I do, Richard, but trust to time, and the 
will of Heaven? Here is another letter from Connecti- 
cut, but it only repeats the substance of the last. There 
is but one consoling reflection to be gathered from the 
English new r s, which is, that my last letter was received 
by him before the ship sailed.” 

“This is bad enough, indeed, ’Duke! — bad enough, 
indeed! and away go all my plans of putting wings to the 


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287 


house, to the devil. I had made arrangements for a ride 
to introduce you to something of a very important nature. 
You know how much you think of mines ” — 

“Talk not of mines, ” interrupted the Judge; “there is 
a sacred duty to be performed, and that without delay. 
I must devote this day to writing; and thou must be my 
assistant, Richard; it will not do to employ Oliver in a 
matter of such secrecy and interest.” 

“No, no, ’Duke,” cried the Sheriff, squeezing his 
hand; “I am your man, just now; we are sisters’ chil- 
dren, and blood, after all, is the best cement to make 
friendship stick together. Well, well, there is no hurry 
about the silver mine, just now ; another time will do as 
well. We shall want Dirky Van, I suppose 1 ” 

Marmaduke assented to this indirect question, and the 
Sheriff relinquished all his intentions on the subject of 
the ride, and repairing to the breakfast parlor, he dis- 
patched a messenger to require the immediate presence of 
Dirck Van der School. 

The village of Templeton at that time supported but 
two lawyers, one of whom was introduced to our readers 
in the barroom of the “Bold Dragoon,” and the other was 
the gentleman of whom Richard spoke by the friendly 
yet familiar appellation of Dirck, or Dirky Van. Great 
good-nature, a very tolerable share of skill in his profes- 
sion, and, considering the circumstances, no contemptible 
degree of honesty, were the principal ingredients in the 
character of this man, who was known to the settlers as 
Squire Van der School, and sometimes by the flattering, 
though anomalous title of the “ Dutch ” or “ honest law- 
yer.” We would not wish to mislead our readers in their 
conceptions of any of our characters, and we therefore feel 
it necessary to add, that the adjective, in the preceding 
agnomen of Mr. Van der School, was used in direct refer- 
ence to its substantive. Our orthodox friends need not 
be told, that all merit in this world is comparative; and 
once for all, we desire to say, that where anything which 
involves qualities or character is asserted, we must be un- 
derstood to mean, “under the circumstances.” 


288 


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During the remainder of the day, the Judge was clos- 
eted with his cousin and his lawyer; and no one else was 
admitted to his apartment excepting his daughter. The 
deep distress, that so evidently affected Marmaduke, was 
in some measure communicated to Elizabeth also; for a 
look of dejection shaded her intelligent features, and the 
buoyancy of her animated spirits was sensibly softened. 
Once on that day, young Edwards, who was a wonder- 
ing and observant spectator of the sudden alteration pro- 
duced in the heads of the family, detected a tear stealing 
over the cheek of Elizabeth, and suffusing her bright eyes 
with a softness that did not always belong to their expres- 
sion. 

“ Have any evil tidings been received, Miss Temple 1 ” 
he inquired, with an interest and voice that caused Louisa 
Grant to raise her head from her needlework, with a quick- 
ness at which she instantly blushed herself. “I would 
offer my services to your father, if, as I suspect, he needs 
an agent in some distant place, and I thought it would 
give you relief. ” 

“We have certainly heard had news,” returned Eliza- 
beth, “and it may he necessary that my father should 
leave home for a short period; unless I can persuade him 
to trust my cousin Richard with the business, whose ab- 
sence from the country, just at this time, too, might be 
inexpedient. ” 

The youth paused a moment, and the blood gathered 
slowly to his temples, as he continued : — 

“If it he of a nature that I could execute ” — 

“ It is such as can only he confided to one we know — 
one of ourselves.” 

“ Surely you know me, Miss Temple ! ” he added, with 
a warmth that he seldom exhibited, hut which did some- 
times escape him, in the moments of their frank commu- 
nications. “ Have I lived five months under your roof to 
be a stranger ? ” 

Elizabeth was engaged with her needle also, and she 
bent her head to one side, affecting to arrange her muslin ; 
but her hand shook, her color heightened, and her eyes 


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289 


lost their moisture in an expression of ungovernable inter- 
est, as she said : — 

“ How much do we know of you, Mr. Edwards ? ” 

“ How much ! ” echoed the youth, gazing from the 
speaker to the mild countenance of Louisa, that was also 
illuminated with curiosity; “how much! have I been so 
long an inmate with you and not known ? ” 

The head of Elizabeth turned slowly from its affected 
position, and the look of confusion that had blended so 
strongly with an expression of interest changed to a smile. 

“We know you, sir, indeed; you are called Mr. Oliver 
Edwards. I understand that you have informed my friend, 
Miss Grant, that you are a native ” — 

“ Elizabeth ! ” exclaimed Louisa, blushing to the eyes, 
and trembling like an aspen; “you misunderstood me, 
dear Miss Temple ; I — I — it was only conj ecture. Be- 
sides, if Mr. Edwards is related to the natives, why should 
we reproach him 1 In what are we better ? at least I, who 
am the child of a poor and unsettled clergyman ? ” 

Elizabeth shook her head doubtingly, and even laughed, 
but made no reply ; until, observing the melancholy which 
pervaded the countenance of her companion, who was 
thinking of the poverty and labors of her father, she con- 
tinued : — 

“Nay, Louisa, humility carries you too far. The 
daughter of a minister of the church can have no supe- 
riors. Neither I nor Mr. Edwards is quite your equal, 
unless,” she added, again smiling, “he is in secret a 
king. ” 

“A faithful servant of the King of kings, Miss Temple, 
is inferior to none on earth,” said Louisa; “but his hon- 
ors are his own ; I am only the child of a poor and friend- 
less man, and can claim no other distinction. Why, then, 
should I feel myself elevated above Mr. Edwards, because 
— because — perhaps he is only very, very distantly re- 
lated to John Mohegan ? ” 

Glances of a very comprehensive meaning were ex- 
changed between the heiress and the young man, as Louisa 
betrayed, while vindicating his lineage, the reluctance with 


290 


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which she admitted his alliance with the old w r arrior ; but 
not even a smile at the simplicity of their companion was 
indulged by either. 

“On reflection, I must acknowledge that my situation 
here is somewhat equivocal,” said Edwards, “though I 
may be said to have purchased it with my blood.” 

“The blood, too, of one of the native lords of the 
soil ! ” cried Elizabeth, who evidently put little faith in 
his aboriginal descent. 

“Do I bear the marks of my lineage so very plainly 
impressed on my appearance? I am dark, hut not very 
red — not more so than common ? ” 

“Rather more so, just now.” 

“I am sure, Miss Temple,” cried Louisa, “you cannot 
have taken much notice of Mr. Edwards. His eyes are 
not so black as Mohegan’s or even your own, nor is his 
hair ! ” 

“Very possibly, then, I can lay claim to the same de- 
scent. It would be a great relief to my mind to think 
so, for I own that I grieve when I see old Mohegan walk- 
ing about these lands, like the ghost of one of their an- 
cient possessors, and feel how small is my own right to 
possess them.” 

“ Do you ? ” cried the youth, with a vehemence that 
startled the ladies. 

“I do, indeed,” returned Elizabeth, after suffering a mo- 
ment to pass in surprise ; “ but what can I do ? what can 
my father do? Should we offer the old man a home 
and a maintenance, his habits would compel him to refuse 
us. Neither, were we so silly as to wish such a thing, 
could we convert these clearings and farms again into 
hunting grounds, as the Leather-Stocking would wish to 
see them.” 

“You speak the truth, Miss Temple,” said Edwards. 
“What can you do, indeed? But there is one thing that 
I am certain you can and will do, when you become the 
mistress of these beautiful valleys — use your wealth with 
indulgence to the poor and charity to the needy; indeed, 
you can do no more.” 


THE PIONEERS 


291 


“And that will be doing a good deal,” said Louisa, 
smiling in her turn. “ But there will, doubtless, be one 
to take the direction of such things from her hands.” 

“I am not about to disclaim matrimony, like a silly 
girl, who dreams of nothing else from morning till night; 
hut I am a nun here, without the vow of celibacy. Where 
shall I find a husband in these forests ? ” 

“There is none, Miss Temple,” said Edwards, quickly; 
“there is none who has a right to aspire to you, and I 
know that you will wait to be sought by your equal; or 
die as you live, loved, respected, and admired by all who 
know you.” 

The young man seemed to think that he had said all 
that was required by gallantry, for he arose, and taking 
his hat, hurried from the apartment. Perhaps Louisa 
thought that he had said more than was necessary, for 
she sighed, with an aspiration so low that it was scarcely 
audible to herself, and bent her head over her work again. 
And it is possible that Miss Temple wished to hear more, 
for her eyes continued fixed for a minute on the door 
through which the young man had passed, then glanced 
quickly towards her companion, when the long silence 
that succeeded manifested how much zest may be given to 
the conversation of two maidens under eighteen by the 
presence of a youth of three-and-twenty. 

The first person encountered by Mr. Edwards, as he 
rather rushed than walked from the house, was the little 
square-built lawyer, with a large bundle of papers under 
his arm, a pair of green spectacles on his nose, with 
glasses at the sides, as if to multiply his power of detect- 
ing frauds by additional organs of vision. 

Mr. Van der School was a well educated man, but of 
slow comprehension, who had imbibed a wariness in his 
speeches and actions from having suffered by his colli- 
sions with his more mercurial and apt brethren who had 
laid the foundations of their practice in the eastern courts, 
and who had sucked in shrewdness with* their mother’s 
milk. The caution of this gentleman was exhibited in 
his actions, by the utmost method and punctuality, tine- 


292 


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tured with a good deal of timidity ; and in his speeches, 
by a parenthetical style, that frequently left to his audi- 
tors a long search after his meaning. 

“A good morning to you, Mr. Van der School, ” said 
Edwards; “it seems to be a busy day with us at the 
mansion-house. ” 

“Good morning, Mr. Edwards (if that is your name 
(for, being a stranger, we have no other evidence of the 
fact than your own testimony), as I understand you have 
given it to Judge Temple), good morning, sir. It is, ap- 
parently, a busy day (but a man of your discretion need 
not be told (having, doubtless, discovered it of your own 
accord), that appearances are often deceitful) up at the 
mansion-house.” 

“Have you papers of consequence that will require 
copying ? can I he of assistance in any way ? ” 

“There are papers (as doubtless you see (for your eyes 
are young) by the outsides) that require copying.” 

“Well, then, I w r ill accompany you to your office, and 
receive such as are most needed, and by night I shall 
have them done, if there he much haste.” 

“I shall he always glad to see you, sir, at my office 
(as in duty bound (not that it is obligatory to receive 
any man within your dwelling (unless so inclined), which 
is a castle), according to the forms of politeness), or at 
any other place ; hut the papers are most strictly confiden- 
tial (and as such, cannot he read by any one), unless so 
directed (by Judge Temple’s solemn injunctions), and 
are invisible to all eyes; excepting those whose duties (I 
mean assumed duties) require it of them.” 

“Well, sir, as I perceive that I can he of no service, 
I wish you another good morning; but beg you will re- 
member that I am quite idle just now, and I wish you 
would intimate as much to Judge Temple, and make him 
a tender of my services in any part of the world, unless 
— unless — it be far from Templeton. ” 

“I will make the communication, sir, in your name 
(with your own qualifications), as your agent. Good 
morning, sir. But stay proceedings, Mr. Edwards (so 


THE PIONEERS 


293 


called), for a moment. Do you wish me to state the offer 
of traveling as a final contract (for which consideration 
has been received at former dates (by sums advanced), 
which would be binding), or as a tender of services for 
which compensation is to be paid (according to future 
agreement between the parties), on performance of the 
conditions? ” 

“Any way, any way,” said Edwards: “he seems in 
distress, and I would assist him.” 

“The motive is good, sir (according to appearances 
(which are often deceitful) on first impressions), and does 
you honor. I will mention your wish, young gentleman 
(as you now seem), and will not fail to communicate the 
answer by five o’clock p. m. of this present day (God will- 
ing), if you give me an opportunity so to do.” 

The ambiguous nature of the situation and character 
of Mr. Edwards had rendered him an object of peculiar 
suspicion to the lawyer, and the youth was consequently 
too much accustomed to similar equivocal and guarded 
speeches to feel any unusual disgust at the present dia- 
logue. He saw at once that it was the intention of the 
practitioner to conceal the nature of his business, even 
from the private secretary of Judge Temple ; and he knew 
too well the difficulty of comprehending the meaning of 
Mr. Van der School, when the gentleman most wished to 
be luminous in his discourse, not to abandon all thoughts 
of a discovery when he perceived that the attorney was 
endeavoring to avoid anything like an approach to a cross- 
examination. They parted at the gate, the lawyer walk- 
ing with an important and hurried air towards his office, 
keeping his right hand firmly clenched on the bundle of 
papers. 

It must have been obvious to all our readers, that the 
youth entertained an unusual and deeply seated prejudice 
against the character of the Judge ; but, owing to some 
counteracting cause, his sensations were now those of pow- 
erful interest in the state of his patron’s present feelings, 
and in the cause of his secret uneasiness. 

He remained gazing after the lawyer, until the door 


294 


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closed on both the hearer and the mysterious packet, when 
he returned slowly to the dwelling, and endeavored to 
forget his curiosity in the usual avocations of his office. 

When the Judge made his reappearance in the circles 
of his family, his cheerfulness was tempered by a shade of 
melancholy that lingered for many days around his manly 
brow; but the magical progression of the season aroused 
him from his temporary apathy, and his smiles returned 
with the summer. 

The heats of the days, and the frequent occurrence of 
balmy showers, had completed in an incredibly short pe- 
riod the growth of plants which the lingering spring had 
so long retarded in the germ; and the woods presented 
every shade of green that the American forests know. 
The stumps in the cleared fields were already hidden be- 
neath the wheat that was waving with every breath of the 
summer air, shining, and changing its hues like velvet. 

During the continuance of his cousin’s dejection, Mr. 
Jones forbore, with much consideration, to press on his 
attention a business that each hour was drawing nearer to 
the heart of the Sheriff, and which, if any opinion could 
be formed by his frequent private conferences with the 
man who was introduced in these pages by the name of 
Jotham, at the barroom of the “Bold Dragoon,” was be- 
coming also of great importance. 

At length the Sheriff ventured to allude again to the 
subject; and one evening, in the beginning of July, Mar- 
maduke made him a promise of devoting the following 
day to the desired excursion. 


CHAPTEE XXVI. 


Speak on, my dearest father ! 

Thy words are like the breezes of the west. 

Milman. 

It was a mild and soft morning, when Marmaduke and 
Eichard mounted their horses to proceed on the expedi- 
tion that had so long been uppermost in the thoughts of 


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295 


the latter : and Elizabeth and Louisa appeared at the same 
instant in the hall, attired for an excursion on foot. 

The head of Miss Grant was covered by a heat little hat 
of green silk, and her modest eyes peered from under its 
shade, with the soft languor that characterized her whole 
appearance; but Miss Temple trod her father’s wide 
apartments with the step of their mistress, holding in her 
hand, dangling by one of its ribbons, the gipsy that was 
to conceal the glossy locks that curled around her polished 
forehead in rich profusion. 

“ What ! are you for a walk, Bess ? ” cried the Judge, 
suspending his movements for a moment, to smile, with 
a father’s fondness, at the display of womanly grace and 
beauty that his child presented. “ Remember the heats of 
July, my daughter; nor venture further than thou canst 
retrace before the meridian. Where is thy parasol, girl? 
thou wilt lose the polish of that brow, under this sun and 
southern breeze, unless thou guard it with unusual care.” 

“I shall then do more honor to my connections,” re- 
turned the smiling daughter. “Cousin Richard has a 
bloom that any lady might envy. At present the resem- 
blance between us is so trifling, that no stranger would 
know us to be * sisters’ children. ’ ” 

“ Grandchildren, you mean, cousin Bess, ” said the Sher- 
iff. “But on, Judge Temple — time and tide wait for no 
man; and if you take my counsel, sir, in twelve months 
from this day you may make an umbrella for your daugh- 
ter of her camel’ s-hair shawl, and have its frame of solid 
silver. I ask nothing for myself, ’Duke; you have been 
a good friend to me already ; besides, all that I have will 
go to Bess there, one of these melancholy days, so it ’s as 
long as it ’s short, whether I or you leave it. But we 
have a day’s ride before us, sir; so move forward, or dis- 
mount, and say you won J t go at once.” 

“Patience, patience, Dickon,” returned the Judge, 
checking his horse, and turning again to his daughter. 
“ If thou art for the mountains, love, stray not too deep 
into the forest, I entreat thee, — for, though it is done 
often with impunity, there is sometimes danger.” 


296 


THE PIONEERS 


“Not at this season, I believe, sir,” said Elizabeth; 
“for, I will confess, it is the intention of Louisa and my- 
self to stroll among the hills.” 

“Less at this season than in the winter, dear; hut still 
there may be danger in venturing too far. But though 
thou art resolute, Elizabeth, thou art too much like thy 
mother not to be prudent.” 

The eyes of the parent turned reluctantly from his 
child, and the Judge and Sheriff rode slowly through the 
gateway, and disappeared among the buildings of the vil- 
lage. 

During this short dialogue, young Edwards stood, an at- 
tentive listener, holding in his hand a fishing-rod, the day 
and the season having tempted him also to desert the house 
for the pleasure of exercise in the air. As the equestri- 
ans turned through the gate, he approached the young 
females, who were already moving towards the street, and 
was about to address them, as Louisa paused, and said 
quickly : — 

“Mr. Edwards would speak to us, Elizabeth.” 

The other stopped also, and turned to the youth, po- 
litely, but with a slight coldness in her air, that sensibly 
checked the freedom with which he had approached them. 

“Your father is not pleased that you should walk unat- 
tended in the hills, Miss Temple. If I might offer myself 
as a protector ” — 

“Does my father select Mr. Oliver Edwards as the 
organ of his displeasure ? ” interrupted the lady. 

“Good Heaven! you misunderstood my meaning: I 
should have said ‘ uneasy, ’ for ‘ not pleased. ’ I am his 
servant, madam, and in consequence yours. I repeat that, 
with your consent, I will change my rod for a fowling- 
piece, and keep nigh you on the mountain.” 

“I thank you, Mr. Edwards; but where there is no 
danger, no protection is required. We are not yet re- 
duced to wandering among these free hills accompanied 
by a body-guard. If such a one is necessary, there he is, 
however. Here, Brave, — Brave, — my noble Brave ! ” 

The huge mastiff, that has been already mentioned, ap- 


THE PIONEERS 


297 


peared from his kennel, gaping and stretching himself, 
with pampered laziness; but as his mistress again called, 
“Come, dear Brave; once have you served your master 
well; let us see how you can do your duty by his daugh- 
ter ! ” the dog wagged his tail, as if he understood her 
language, walked with a stately gait to her side, where he 
seated himself, and looked up at her face, with an intelli- 
gence but little inferior to that which beamed in her own 
lovely countenance. 

She resumed her walk, but again paused, after a few 
steps, and added, in tones of conciliation : — 

“You can be serving us equally, and, I presume, more 
agreeably to yourself, Mr. Edwards, by bringing us a 
string of your favorite perch for the dinner- table. ” 

When they again began to walk, Miss Temple did not 
look back to see how the youth bore this repulse; but 
the head of Louisa was turned several times before they 
reached the gate, on that considerate errand. 

“I am afraid, Elizabeth,” she said, “that we have mor- 
tified Oliver. He is still standing where we left him, 
leaning on his rod. Perhaps he thinks us proud.” 

“He thinks justly,” exclaimed Miss Temple, as if awak- 
ing from a deep musing; “he thinks justly, then. We 
are too proud to admit of such particular attentions from 
a young man in an equivocal situation. What ! make him 
the companion of our most private walks ! It is pride, 
Louisa, but it is the pride of a woman.” 

It was several minutes before Oliver aroused himself 
from the abstracted position in which he was standing 
when Louisa last saw him ; but when he did, he muttered 
something rapidly and incoherently, and throwing his rod 
over his shoulder, he strode down the walk through the 
gate, and along one of the streets of the village until he 
reached the lake shore, with the air of an emperor. At 
this spot boats were kept for the use of Judge Temple and 
his family. The young man threw himself into a light 
skiff, and seizing the oars, he sent it across the lake to- 
wards the hut of Leather-Stocking with a pair of vigor- 
ous arms. By the time he had rowed a quarter of a mile, 


298 


THE PIONEERS 


his reflections were less bitter: and when he saw the 
hushes that lined the shore in front of Natty’s habitation 
gliding by him, as if they possessed the motion which 
proceeded from his own efforts, he was quite cooled in 
mind though somewhat heated in body. It is quite pos- 
sible that the very same reason which guided the conduct 
of Miss Temple suggested itself to a man of the breeding 
and education of the youth; and it is very certain that 
if such were the case Elizabeth rose instead of falling in 
the estimation of Mr. Edwards. 

The oars were now raised from the water, and the boat 
shot close in to the land, where it lay gently agitated by 
waves of its own creating — while the young man, first 
casting a cautious and searching glance around him in 
every direction, put a small whistle to his mouth, and 
blew a long, shrill note, that rang among the echoing 
rocks behind the hut. At this alarm, the hounds of 
Natty rushed out of their bark kennel, and commenced 
their long piteous howls; leaping about as if half frantic, 
though restrained by the leashes of buckskin by which 
they were fastened. 

“Quiet, Hector, quiet,” said Oliver, again applying 
his whistle to his mouth, and drawing out notes still more 
shrill than before. No reply was made, the dogs having 
returned to their kennel at the sounds of his voice. 

Edwards pulled the bows of the boat on the shore, and 
landing, ascended the beach and approached the door of 
the cabin. The fastenings were soon undone, and he 
entered, closing the door after him, when all was as si- 
lent, in that retired spot, as if the foot of man had never 
trod the wilderness. The sounds of the hammers that 
were in incessant motion in the village w T ere faintly heard 
across the water; but the dogs had crouched into their 
lairs, satisfied that none but the privileged had approached 
the forbidden ground. 

A quarter of an hour elapsed before the youth reap- 
peared, when he fastened the door again, and spoke kindly 
to the hounds. The dogs came out at the well known 
tones, and the slut jumped upon his person, whining and 


THE PIONEERS 


299 


barking, as if entreating Oliver to release her from prison. 
But old Hector raised his nose to the light current of air, 
and opened a long howl, that might have been heard for 
a mile. 

“ Ha ! what do you scent, old veteran of the woods ? ” 
cried Edwards. “If a beast, it is a bold one; and if a 
man, an impudent. ” 

He sprang through the top of a pine that had fallen 
near the side of the hut, and ascended a small hillock that 
sheltered the cabin to the south, where he caught a glimpse 
of the formal figure of Hiram Doolittle, as it vanished, 
with unusual rapidity for the architect, amid the bushes. 

“ What can that fellow be wanting here 1 ” muttered 
Oliver. “He has no business in this quarter, unless it 
be curiosity, which is an endemic in these woods. But 
against that I will effectually guard, though the dogs 
should take a liking to his ugly visage, and let him pass.” 
The youth returned to the door, while giving vent to this 
soliloquy, and completed the fastenings, by placing a small 
chain through a staple, and securing it there by a padlock. 
“He is a pettifogger, and surel^ must know that there is 
such a thing as feloniously breaking into a man’s house.” 

Apparently well satisfied with this arrangement, the 
youth again spoke to the hounds; and, descending to the 
shore, he launched his boat, and taking up his oars, pulled 
off into the lake. 

There were several places in the Otsego that were cele- 
brated fishing-ground for perch. One was nearly opposite 
to the cabin, and another, still more famous, was near a 
point at the distance of a mile and a half above it, under 
the brow of the mountain, and on the same side of the 
lake with the hut. Oliver Edwards pulled his little skiff 
to the first, and sat, for a minute, undecided whether to 
continue there, with his eyes on the door of the cabin, or 
to change his ground, with a view to get superior game. 
While gazing about him, he saw the light-colored bark 
canoe of his old companions riding on the water, at the 
point we have mentioned, and containing two figures that 
he at once knew to be Mohegan and the Leather-Stocking. 


300 


THE PIONEERS 


This decided the matter, and the youth pulled, in a very 
few minutes, to the place where his friends were fishing, 
and fastened his boat to the light vessel of the Indian. 

The old men received Oliver with welcoming nods, but 
neither drew his line from the water, nor in the least 
varied his occupation. When Edwards had secured his 
own boat, he baited his hook and threw it into the lake 
without speaking. 

“Did you stop at the wigwam, lad, as you rowed 
past ? ” asked Natty. 

“Yes, and I found all safe; but that carpenter and 
justice of the peace, Mr., or as they call him, Squire, 
Doolittle, was prowling through the woods. I made sure 
of the door before I left the hut, and I think he is too 
great a coward to approach the hounds.” 

“There’s little to be said in favor of that man,” said 
Natty, while he drew in a perch and baited his hook. 
“ He craves dreadfully to come into the cabin, and has as 
good as asked me as much to my face; but I put him off 
with unsartain answers, so that he is no wiser than Solo- 
mon. This comes of having so many laws that such a 
man may be called on to intarpret them.” 

“ I fear he is more knave than fool, ” cried Edwards ; 
“ he makes a tool of that simple man, the Sheriff ; and I 
dread that his impertinent curiosity may yet give us much 
trouble. ” 

“If he harbors too much about the cabin, lad, I’ll 
shoot the creatur’,” said the Leather- Stocking, quite sim- 

ply- 

“No, no, Natty, you must remember the law,” said 
Edwards, “or we shall have you in trouble; and that, old 
man, would be an evil day, and sore tidings to us all.” 

“Would it, boy!” exclaimed the hunter, raising his 
eyes with a look of friendly interest, towards the youth. 
“You have the true blood in your veins, Mr. Oliver; and 
I ’ll support it to the face of Judge Temple, or in any 
court in the country. How is it, John? Do I speak the 
true word ? Is the lad stanch, and of the right blood ? ” 

“He is a Delaware,” said Mohegan, “and my brother. 


THE PIONEEKS 301 

The Young Eagle is brave, and he will he a chief. No 
harm can come.” 

“Well, well,” cried the youth, impatiently, “say no 
more about it, my good friends ; if I am not all that your 
partiality would make me, I am yours through life, in 
prosperity as in poverty. We will talk of other matters.” 

The old hunters yielded to his wish, which seemed to 
he their law. For a short time a profound silence pre- 
vailed, during which each man was very busy with his 
hook and line; hut Edwards, probably feeling that it re- 
mained with him to renew the discourse, soon observed, 
with the air of one who knew not what he said : — 

“How beautifully tranquil and glassy the lake is! Saw 
you it ever more calm and even than at this moment, 
Natty ? ” 

“I have known the Otsego water for five-and-forty 
years,” said Leather-Stocking; “and I will say that for 
it, which is, that a cleaner spring or better fishing is not 
to be found in the land. Yes, yes; I had the place to 
myself once, and a cheerful time I had of it. The game 
was plenty as heart could wish; and there was none to 
meddle with the ground, unless there might have been 
a hunting party of the Delawares crossing the hills — 
or, maybe, a rifling scout of them thieves, the Iroquois. 
There was one or two Frenchmen that squatted in the 
flats, further west, and married squaws ; and some of the 
Scotch-Irishers from the Cherry Valley would come on 
to the lake, and borrow my canoe to take a mess of parch 
or drop a line for salmon- trout; but, in the main, it was 
a cheerful place and I had but little to disturb me in it. 
John would come, and John knows.” 

Mohegan turned his dark face at this appeal ; and, mov- 
ing his hand forward with a graceful motion of assent, he 
spoke, using the Delaware language : — 

“The land was owned by my people; we gave it to 
my brother, in council — to the Fire-eater; and what the 
Delawares give lasts as long as the waters run. Hawkeye 
smoked at that council, for we loved him.”* 

“No, no, John,” said Natty; “I was no chief, seeing 


302 


THE PIONEERS 


that I knowed nothing of scholarship, and had a white 
skin. But it was a comfortable hunting-ground then, lad, 
and would have been so to this day, but for the money 
of Marmaduke Temple, and the twisty ways of the law.” 

“It must have been a sight of melancholy pleasure, 
indeed,” said Edwards, while his eye roved along the 
shores and over the hills, where the clearings, groaning 
with the golden corn, were cheering the forests with the 
signs of life, “to have roamed over these mountains, and 
along this sheet of beautiful water, without a living soul 
to speak to, or to thwart your humor.” 

“Have n’t I said it was cheerful? ” said Leather- Stock- 
ing. “Yes, yes; when the trees began to be covered 
with leaves, and the ice was out of the lake, it was a sec- 
ond paradise. I have traveled the woods for fifty- three 
years, and have made them my home for more than forty ; 
and I can say that I have met but one place that was more 
to my liking; and that was only to eyesight, and not for 
hunting or fishing.” 

“And where was that? ” asked Edwards. 

“Where! why up on the Cattskills. I used often to 
go up into the mountains after wolves’ skins and bears; 
once they paid me to get them a stuffed painter, and so I 
often went. There ’s a place in them hills that I used to 
climb to when I wanted to see the carryings on of the 
world, that w r ould well pay any man for a barked shin or 
a torn moccasin. You know the Cattskills, lad; for you 
must have seen them on your left, as you followed the 
river up from York, looking as blue as a piece of clear 
sky, and holding the clouds on their tops, as the smoke 
curls over the head of an Indian chief at the council fire. 
Well, there ’s the High- peak and the Bound- top, which 
lay back like a father and mother among their children, 
seeing they are far above all the other hills. But the 
place I mean is next to the river, where one of the ridges 
juts out a little from the rest, and where the rocks fall, 
for the best part of a thousand feet, so much up and down, 
that a man standing on their edges is fool enough to think 
he can jump from top to bottom.” 


THE PIONEERS 


303 


“ What see you when you get there 1 ” asked Edwards. 

“Creation,” said Natty, dropping the end of his rod 
into the water, and sweeping one hand around him in a 
circle, — “ all creation, lad. I was on that hill when 
Vaughan burned ’Sopus 1 * * in the last war; and I saw the 
vessels come out of the Highlands as plain as I can see 
that lime-scow rowing into the Susquehanna, though one 
was twenty times further from me than the other. The 
river was in sight for seventy miles, looking like a curled 
shaving under my feet, though it was eight long miles to 
its banks. I saw the hills in the Hampshire grants, the 
Highlands of the river, and all that God had done, or 
man could do, far as eye could reach — you know that 
the Indians named me for my sight, lad; and from the 
flat on the top of that mountain I have often found the 
place where Albany stands. And as for ’Sopus, the day 
the royal troops burnt the town, the smoke seemed so 
nigh, that I thought I could hear the screeches of the 
women.” £ 

“It must have been worth the toil to meet with such 
a glorious view.” 

“ If being the best part of a mile in the air, and having 
men’s farms and housen at your feet, with rivers looking 
like ribbons, and mountains bigger than the e Vision 9 
seeming to be haystacks of green grass under you, gives 
any satisfaction to a man, I can recommend the spot. 
When I first came into the woods to live, I used to have 
weak spells when I felt lonesome ; and then I jvould go 
into the Cattskills, and spend a few days on that hill to 
look at the ways of man; but it ’s now many a year since 
I felt any such longings, and I am getting too old for 
rugged rocks. But there ’s a place, a short two miles 
back of that very hill, that in late times I relished better 
than the mountain ; for it was more covered with the trees, 
and natural.” 

“ And where was that ? ” inquired Edwards, whose 

l [Sir John Vaughan, 1738-1795, an English general in the American 

Revolution. He destroyed Esopus, N. Y., a town on the Hudson, Octo- 

ber, 1777.] 


304 


THE PIONEERS 


curiosity was strongly excited by the simple description of 
the hunter. 

‘Why, there’s a fall in the hills where the water of 
two little ponds, that lie near each other, breaks out of 
their bounds and runs over the rocks into the valley. 
The stream is, maybe, such a one as would turn a mill, 
if so useless a thing was wanted in the wilderness. But 
the hand that made that ‘ Leap ’ never made a mill. 
There the water comes crooking and winding among the 
rocks; first so slow that a trout could swim in it, and 
then starting and running like a creatur’ that wanted to 
make a far spring, till it gets to where the mountain di- 
vides, like the cleft hoof of a deer, leaving a deep hollow 
for the brook to tumble into. The first pitch is nigh two 
hundred feet, and the water looks like flakes of driven 
snow afore it touches the bottom ; and there the stream 
gathers itself together again for a new start, and maybe 
flutters over fifty feet of flat rock before it falls for an- 
other hundred, when it jumps about from shelf to shelf, 
first turning this -a- way and then turning that-a-way, striv- 
ing to get out of the hollow, till it finally comes to the 
plain.” 

“I have never heard of this spot before; it is not men- 
tioned in the books.” 

“I never read a book in my life,” said Leather-Stock- 
ing; “and how should a man who has lived in towns and' 
schools know anything about the wonders of the woods? 
No, no, lad; there has that little stream of water been 
playing among the hills since He made the world, and not 
a dozen white men have ever laid eyes on it. The rock 
sweeps like mason-work, in a half-round, on both sides 
of the fall, and shelves over the bottom for fifty feet; 
so that when I ’ve been sitting at the foot of the first 
pitch, and my hounds have run into the caverns behind 
the sheet of water, they ’ve looked no bigger than so many 
rabbits. To my judgment, lad, it ’s the best piece of 
work that I’ve met with in the woods; and none know 
how often the hand of God is seen in the wilderness, but 
them that rove it for a man’s life.” 


THE PIONEERS 


305 


“ What becomes of the water 1 In which direction does 
it run 'l Is it a tributary of the Delaware ? ” 

“ Anan ! ” said Natty. 

“ Does the water run into the Delaware 1 ” 

“No, no; it ’s a drop for the old Hudson, and a merry 
time it has till it gets down off the mountain. I ’ve sat 
on the shelving rock many a long hour, boy, and watched 
the bubbles as they shot by me, and thought how long it 
would be before that very water, which seemed made for 
the wilderness, would he under the bottom of a vessel, 
and tossing in the salt sea. It is a spot to make a man 
solemnize. You can see right down into the valley that 
lies to the east of the High Peak, where, in the fall of 
the year, thousands of acres of woods are before your eyes, 
in the deep hollow and along the side of the mountain, 
painted like ten thousand rainbows by no hand of man, 
though without the ordering of God’s providence.” 

“You are eloquent, Leather-Stocking,” exclaimed the 
youth. 

“Anan!” repeated Natty. 

“The recollection of the sight has warmed your blood, 
old man. How many years is it since you saw the place ? ” 

The hunter made no reply; but, bending his ear near 
the water, he sat holding his breath, and listening atten- 
tively as if to some distant sound. At length he raised 
his head, and said : — 

“If I hadn’t fastened the hounds with my own hands, 
with a fresh leash of green buckskin, I ’d take a Bible 
oath that I heard old Hector ringing his cry on the moun- 
tain.” 

“It is impossible,” said Edwards; “it is not an hour 
since I saw him in his kennel.” 

By this time the attention of Mohegan was attracted 
to the sounds ; but, notwithstanding the youth was both 
silent and attentive, he could hear nothing but the low- 
ing of some cattle from the western hills. He looked at 
the old men, Natty sitting with his hand to his ear, like 
a trumpet, and Mohegan bending forward, with an arm 
raised to a level with his face, holding the forefinger ele- 


306 


THE PIONEERS 


vated as a signal for attention, and laughed aloud at what 
he deemed to be their imaginary sounds. 

“Laugh if you will, boy,” said Leather-Stocking; “the 
hounds be out, and are hunting a deer. No man can 
deceive me in such a matter. I would n’t have had the 
thing happen for a beaver’s skin. Not that I care for the 
law ! but the venison is lean now, and the dumb things 
run the flesh off their own bones for no good. Now do 
you hear the hounds ? ” 

Edwards started, as a full cry broke on his ear, chang- 
ing from the distant sounds that were caused by some 
intervening hill to confused echoes that rang among the 
rocks that the dogs were passing, and then directly to a 
deep and hollow baying that pealed under the forest on 
the lake shore. These variations in the tones of the 
hounds passed with amazing rapidity; and while his eyes 
were glancing along the margin of the water, a tearing of 
the branches of the alder and dog-wood caught his atten- 
tion at a spot near them, and at the next moment a noble 
buck sprang on the shore, and buried himself in the lake. 
A full-mouthed cry followed, when Hector and the slut 
shot through the opening in the bushes, and darted into 
the lake also, bearing their breasts gallantly against the 
water. 


CHAPTEE XXVII. 

Oft in the full descending flood he tries 
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides. 

James Thomson : The Seasons ; Autumn , 445, 446. 


“I knowed it — I knowed it!” cried Natty, when 
both deer and hounds were in full view; “the buck has 
gone by them with the wind, and it has been too much 
for the poor rogues; but I must break them of these 
tricks, or they ’ll give me a deal of trouble. He-ere, 
he-ere — shore with you, rascals — shore with you — will 
ye? Oh, off with you, old Hector, or I’ll hatchel your 
hide with my ramrod when I get ye.” 


THE PIONEERS 


307 


The dogs knew their master’s voice, and after swim- 
ming in a circle, as if reluctant to give over the chase and 
yet afraid to persevere, they finally obeyed and returned 
to the land, where they filled the air with their cries. 

In the meantime the deer, urged by his fears, had swum 
over half the distance between the shore and the boats, 
before his terror permitted him to see the new danger. 
But at the sounds of Natty’s voice he turned short in 
his course, and for a few moments seemed about to rush 
hack again and brave the dogs. His retreat in this di- 
rection was, however, effectually cut off, and turning a 
second time, he urged his course obliquely for the centre 
of the lake, with an intention of landing on the western 
shore. As the buck swam by the fishermen, raising his 
nose high into the air, curling the water before his slim 
neck like the beak of a galley, the Leather-Stocking began 
to sit very uneasy in his canoe. 

“’Tis a noble creatur’ ! ” he exclaimed; “what a pair 
of horns ! a man might hang up all his garments on the 
branches. Let me see — July is the last month, and the 
flesh must he getting good.” While he was talking, Natty 
had instinctively employed himself in fastening the inner 
end of the bark rope that served him for a cable to a 
paddle, and rising suddenly on his legs, he cast this buoy 
away, and cried, “Strike out, John! let her go. The 
creatur ’s a fool to tempt a man in this way.” 

Mohegan threw the fastening of the youth’s boat from 
the canoe, and with one stroke of his paddle sent the light 
bark over the water like a meteor. 

“Hold!” exclaimed Edwards. “Remember the law, 
my old friends. You are in plain sight of the village, 
and I know that Judge Temple is determined to prosecute 
all indiscriminately who kill deer out of season.” 

The remonstrance came too late: the canoe was already 
far from the skiff, and the two hunters were too much 
engaged in the pursuit to listen to his voice. 

The buck was now within fifty yards qf his pursuers, 
cutting the water gallantly, and snorting at each breath 
with terror and his exertions, while the canoe seemed to 


308 


THE PIONEERS 


dance over the waves, as it rose and fell with the undula- 
tions made by its own motion. Leather-Stocking raised 
his rifle and freshened the priming, but stood in suspense 
whether to slay his victim or not. 

“Shall I, John, or no?” he said. “It seems hut a 
poor advantage to take of the dumb thing, too. I won’t; 
it has taken to the water on its own natur’, which is the 
reason that God has given to a deer, and I ’ll give it the 
lake play : so, John, lay out your arm, and mind the turn 
of the buck, — it ’s easy to catch them, hut they ’ll turn 
like a snake.” 

The Indian laughed at the conceit of his friend, but 
continued to send the canoe forward with a velocity that 
proceeded much more from his skill than his strength. 
Both of the old men now used the language of the Dela- 
wares when they spoke. 

“ Hugh ! ” exclaimed Mohegan ; “ the deer turns his 
head. Hawkeye, lift your spear.” 

Natty never moved abroad without taking with him 
every implement that might, by possibility, he of service 
in his pursuits. From his rifle he never parted; and al- 
though intending to fish with the line, the canoe was in- 
variably furnished with all of its utensils, even to its 
grate. This precaution grew out of the habits of the 
hunter, who was often led, by his necessities or his sports, 
far beyond the limits of his original destination. A few 
years earlier than the date of our tale, the Leather- Stock- 
ing had left his hut on the shores of the Otsego, with his 
rifle and his hounds, for a few days’ hunting in the hills; 
hut before he returned he had seen the waters of Ontario. 
One, tAvo, or even three hundred miles had once been no- 
thing to his sinews, which were now a little stiffened by 
age. The hunter did as Mohegan advised, and prepared 
to strike a blow, with the barbed weapon, into the neck of 
the buck. 

“Lay her more to the left, John,” he cried, “lay her 
more to the left; another stroke of the paddle, and I have 
him.” 

While speaking, he raised the spear, and darted it from 


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him like an arrow. At that instant the buck turned, the 
long pole glanced by him, the iron striking against his 
horn, and buried itself harmlessly in the lake. 

“Back water, ” cried Natty, as the canoe glided over 
the place where the spear had fallen; “hold water, John.” 

The pole soon reappeared, shooting upwards from the 
lake, and as the hunter seized it in his hand, the Indian 
whirled the light canoe round, and renewed the chase. 
But this evolution gave the buck a great advantage ; and 
it also allowed time for Edwards to approach the scene of 
action. 

“Hold your hand, Natty!” cried the youth, “hold 
your hand! remember it is out of season.” 

This remonstrance was made as the batteau arrived 
close to the place where the deer was struggling with the 
water, his back now rising to the surface, now sinking be- 
neath it, as the waves curled from his neck, the animal 
still sustaining itself nobly against the odds. 

“ Hurrah ! ” shouted Edwards, inflamed beyond pru- 
dence at the sight ; “ mind him as he doubles — mind him 
as he doubles; sheer more to the right, Mohegan, more to 
the right, and I T1 have him by the horns; I ’ll throw the 
rope over his antlers.” 

The dark eye of the old warrior was dancing in his 
head with a wild animation, and the sluggish repose in 
which his aged frame had been resting in the canoe was 
now changed to all the rapid inflections of practiced agility. 
The canoe whirled with each cunning evolution of the 
chase, like a bubble floating in a whirlpool; and when 
the direction of the pursuit admitted of a straight course, 
the little hark skimmed the lake with a velocity that 
urged the deer to seek its safety in some new turn. 

It was the frequency of these circuitous movements, 
that, by confining the action to so small a compass, ena- 
bled the youth to keep near his companions. More than 
twenty times both the pursued and the pursuers glided by 
him, just without the reach of his oars, until he thought 
the best way to view the sport was to remain stationary, 
and, by watching a favorable opportunity, assist as much 
as he could in taking the victim. 


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He was not required to wait long, for no sooner had 
he adopted this resolution, and risen in the boat, than he 
saw the deer coming bravely towards him, with an appar- 
ent intention of pushing for a point of land at some dis- 
tance from the hounds, who were still harking and howl- 
ing on the shore. Edwards caught the painter of his skiff, 
and, making a noose, cast it from him with all his force, 
and luckily succeeded in drawing its knot close around one 
of the antlers of the buck. 

Eor one instant, the skiff was drawn through the water, 
but in the next the canoe glided before it, and Natty, 
bending low, passed his knife across the throat of the 
animal, whose blood followed the wound, dyeing the 
waters. The short time that was passed in the last strug- 
gles of the animal was spent by the hunters in bringing 
their boats together, and securing them in that position, 
when Leather-Stocking drew the deer from the water, and 
laid its lifeless form in the bottom of the canoe. He 
placed his hands on the ribs, and on different parts of the 
body of his prize, and then, raising his head, he laughed 
in his peculiar manner. 

“So much for Marmaduke Temple’s law!” he said. 
“This warms a body’s blood, old John; I haven’t killed 
a buck in the lake afore this, sin’ many a year. I call 
that good venison, lad; and I know them that will relish 
the creatur’s steaks, for all the betterments in the land.” 

The Indian had long been drooping with his years, and 
perhaps under the calamities of his race, but this invig- 
orating and exciting sport caused a gleam of sunshine to 
cross his swarthy face that had long been absent from his 
features. It was evident the old man enjoyed the chase 
more as a memorial of his youthful sports and deeds than 
with any expectation of profiting by the success. He felt 
the deer, however, lightly, — his hand already trembling 
with the reaction of his unusual exertions, — and smiled 
with a nod of approbation, as he said, in the emphatic and 
sententious manner of his people : — 

“Good!” 

“I am afraid, Natty,” said Edwards, when the heat 


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311 


of the moment had passed, and his blood began to cool, 
“that we have all been equally transgressors of the law. 
But keep your own counsel, and there are none here to 
betray us. Yet how came those dogs at large? I left 
them securely fastened, I know, for I felt the thongs, and 
examined the knots, when I was at the hut.” 

“It has been too much for the poor things,” said Natty, 
“to have such a buck take the wind of them. See, lad, 
the pieces of the buckskin are hanging from their necks 
yet. Let us paddle up, John, and I will call them in, 
and look a little into the matter.” 

When the old hunter landed, and examined the thongs 
that were yet fast to the hounds, his countenance sensibly 
changed, and he shook his head doubtingly. 

“Here has been a knife at work,” he said: “this skin 
was never torn, nor is this the mark of a hound’s tooth. 
No, no; Hector is not in fault, as I feared.” 

“ Has the leather been cut ? ” cried Edwards. 

“No, no — I didn’t say it had been cut, lad; but this 
is a mark that was never made by a jump or a bite.” 

“Could that rascally carpenter have dared!” 

“ Aye ! he durst to do anything when there is no dan- 
ger,” said Natty: “he is a curious body, and loves to be 
helping other people on with their consarns. But he had 
best not harbor so much near the wigwam ! ” 

In the meantime Mohegan had been examining, with an 
Indian’s sagacity, the place where the leather thong had 
been separated. After scrutinizing it closely, he said, in 
Delaware : — 

“It was cut with a knife — a sharp blade and a long 
handle; the man was afraid of the dogs.” 

“How is this, Mohegan?” exclaimed Edwards: “you 
saw it not ! how can you know these facts ? ” 

“Listen, son,” said the warrior. “The knife was 
sharp, for the cut is smooth ; the handle was long, for a 
man’s arm would not reach from this gash to the cut that 
did not go through the skin: he was a, coward, or he 
would have cut the thongs around the necks of the 
hounds. ” 


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“On my life,” cried Natty, “John is on the scent! It 
was the carpenter; and he has got on the rock back of 
the kennel, and let the dogs loose by fastening his knife 
to a stick. It would be an easy matter to do it, where 
a man is so minded. ” 

“And why should he do so?” asked Edwards: “who 
has done him wrong, that he should trouble two old men 
like you ? ” 

“It ’s a hard matter, lad, to know men’s ways, I find, 
since the settlers have brought in their new fashions. 
But is there nothing to he found out in the place ? and 
maybe he is troubled with his longings after other people’s 
business, as he often is.” 

“Your suspicions are just. Give me the canoe: I am 
young and strong, and will get down there yet, perhaps, 
in time to interrupt his plans. Heaven forbid that we 
should be at the mercy of such a man ! ” 

His proposal was accepted, the deer being placed in the 
skiff in order to lighten the canoe, and in less than five 
minutes the little vessel of bark was gliding over the 
glassy lake, and was soon hid by the points of land as it 
shot close along the shore. 

Mohegan followed slowly with the skiff, while Natty 
called his hounds to him, bade them keep close, and, 
shouldering his rifle, he ascended the mountain with an 
intention of going to the hut by land. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Ask me not what the maiden feels, 

Left in that dreadful hour alone ; 

Perchance her reason stoops, or reels, 

Perchance a courage not her own 
Bi^ces her mind to desperate tone. 

Walter Scott : Marmion , VI. xxviii. 


While the chase was occurring on the lake, Miss Tem- 
ple and her companion pursued their walk on the moun- 
tain. Male attendants on such excursions were thought 


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313 


to be altogether unnecessary, for none were ever known 
to offer an insult to a female who respected herself. After 
the embarrassment created by the parting discourse with 
Edwards had dissipated, the girls maintained a conversa- 
tion that was as innocent and cheerful as themselves. 

The path they took led them but a short distance above 
the hut of Leather-Stocking, and there was a point in the 
road which commanded a bird’s-eye view of the seques- 
tered spot. 

From a feeling that might have been natural, and must 
have been powerful, neither of the friends, in their fre- 
quent and confidential dialogues, had ever trusted herself 
to utter one syllable concerning the equivocal situation in 
which the young man who was now so intimately associ- 
ated with them had been found. If Judge Temple had 
deemed it prudent to make any inquiries on the subject, 
he had also thought it proper to keep the answers to him- 
self ; though it was so common an occurrence to find the 
well educated youth of the Eastern States in every stage 
of their career to wealth, that the simple circumstance of 
his intelligence, connected with his poverty, would not, 
at that day and in that country, have excited any very 
powerful curiosity. With his breeding, it might have 
been different; but the youth himself had so effectually 
guarded against surprise on this subject, by his cold and 
even in some cases rude deportment, that when his man- 
ners seemed to soften by time, the Judge, if he thought 
about it at all, would have been most likely to imagine 
that the improvement was the result of his late associa- 
tion. But women are always more alive to such subjects 
than men; and what the abstraction of the father had 
overlooked the observation of the daughter had easily de- 
tected. In the thousand little courtesies of polished life 
she had early discovered that Edwards was not wanting, 
though his gentleness was so often crossed by marks of 
what she conceived to be fierce and uncontrollable passions. 
It may, perhaps, be unnecessary to tell the reader that 
Louisa Grant never reasoned so much after the fashions 
of the world. The gentle girl, however, had her own 


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thoughts on the subject, and like others she drew her own 
conclusions. 

“I would give all my other secrets, Louisa, ” exclaimed 
Miss Temple, laughing, and shaking back her dark locks, 
with a look of childish simplicity that her intelligent face 
seldom expressed, “to be mistress of all that those rude 
logs have heard and witnessed.” 

They were both looking at the secluded hut at the in- 
stant, and Miss Grant raised her mild eyes as she an- 
swered : — 

“ I am sure they would tell nothing to the disadvantage 
of Mr. Edwards.” 

“Perhaps not; but they might, at least, tell who he 
is. ” 

“Why, dear Miss Temple, we know all that already. 
I have heard it all very rationally explained by your 
cousin ” — 

“The executive chief! he can explain anything. His 
ingenuity will one day discover the philosopher’s stone. 
But what did he say ? ” 

“Say ! ” echoed Louisa, with a look of surprise; “why, 
everything that seemed to me to be satisfactory, and I have 
believed it to be true. He said that Natty Bumppo had 
lived most of his life in the woods and among the Indians, 
by which means he had formed an acquaintance with old 
John, the Delaware chief.” 

“ Indeed ! that was quite a matter-of-fact tale for cousin 
Dickon. What came next 1 ” 

“I believe he accounted for their close intimacy, by 
some story about the Leather-Stocking saving the life of 
John in a battle.” 

“Nothing more likely,” said Elizabeth, a little impa- 
tiently ; “ but what is all this to the purpose ? ” 

“Nay, Elizabeth, you must bear with my ignorance, 
and I will repeat all that I remember to have overheard; 
for the dialogue was between my father and the Sheriff, 
so lately as the last time they met. He then added that 
the kings of England used to keep gentlemen as agents 
among the different tribes of Indians, and sometimes offi- 


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315 


cers in the army, who frequently passed half their lives 
on the edge of the wilderness. ” 

“ Told with wonderful historical accuracy ! And did 
he end there ? ” 

“Oh, no; then he said that these agents seldom mar- 
ried; and — and — they must have been wicked men, 
Elizabeth ! but I assure you he said so. ” 

“Never mind,” said Miss Temple, blushing and smil- 
ing, though so slightly that both were unheeded by her 
companion, “skip all that.” 

“ Well, then, he said that they often took great pride 
in the education of their children, whom they frequently 
sent to England and even to the colleges ; and this is the 
way that he accounts for the liberal manner in which Mr. 
Edwards has been taught; for he acknowledges that he 
knows almost as much as your father — or mine — or 
even himself.” 

“Quite a climax in learning! And so he made Mohe- 
gan the grand uncle, or grandfather of Oliver Edwards.” 

“You have heard him yourself, then?” said Louisa. 

“Often; but not on this subject. Mr. Ri chard Jones, 
you know, dear, has a theory for everything; hut has he 
one which will explain the reason why that hut is the 
only habitation within fifty miles of us whose door is not 
open to every person who may choose to lift its latch ? ” 

“I have never heard him say anything on this subject,” 
returned the clergyman’s daughter; “but I suppose that, 
as they are poor, they very naturally are anxious to keep 
the little that they honestly own. It is sometimes dan- 
gerous to be rich, Miss Temple; but you cannot know 
how hard it is to be very, very poor.” 

“Nor you, I trust, Louisa; at least I should hope that 
in this land of abundance no minister of the church could 
be left to absolute suffering.” 

“There cannot be actual misery,” returned the other, 
in a low and humble tone, “where there is a dependence 
on our Maker; but there may be such suffering as will 
cause the heart to ache.” 

“But not you — not you,” said the impetuous Eliza- 


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beth; “not you, dear girl: you have never known the 
misery that is connected with poverty. ” 

“Ah! Miss Temple, you little understand the troubles 
of this life, I believe. My father has spent many years 
as a missionary in the new countries, where his people 
were poor, and frequently we have been without bread; 
unable to buy and ashamed to beg, because we would not 
disgrace his sacred calling. But how often have I seen 
him leave his home, where the sick and the hungry felt 
when he left them that they had lost their only earthly 
friend, to ride on a duty which could not be neglected for 
domestic evils. Oh, how hard it must be to preach con- 
solation to others, when your own heart is bursting with 
anguish ! ” 

“But it is all over now! your father’s income must 
now be equal to his wants — it must be — it shall be ” — 

“It is,” replied Louisa, dropping her head on her bosom, 
to conceal the tears which flowed in spite of her gentle 
Christianity, “for there are none left to be supplied but 
me. ” 

The turn the conversation had taken drove from the 
minds of the young maidens all other thoughts but those 
of holy charity; and Elizabeth folded her friend in her 
arms, when the latter gave vent to her momentary grief 
in audible sobs. When this burst of emotion had sub- 
sided, Louisa raised her mild countenance and they con- 
tinued their walk in silence. 

By this time they had gained the summit of the moun- 
tain, where they left the highway and pursued their 
course under the shade of the stately trees that crowned 
the eminence. The day was becoming warm, and the 
girls plunged more deeply into the forest, as they found 
its invigorating coolness agreeably contrasted to the exces- 
sive heat they had experienced in the ascent. The con- 
versation, as if by mutual consent, was entirely changed 
to the little incidents and scenes of their walk, and every 
tall pine and every shrub or flower called forth some sim- 
ple expression of admiration. 

In this manner they proceeded along the margin of the 


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317 


precipice, catching occasional glimpses of the placid Otsego, 
or pausing to listen to the rattling of wheels and the 
sounds of hammers, that rose from the valley to mingle the 
signs of men with the scenes of nature, when Elizabeth 
suddenly started, and exclaimed : — 

“ Listen ! there are the cries of a child on this moun- 
tain ! Is there a clearing near us, or can some little one 
have strayed from its parents ? ” 

“Such things frequently happen,” returned Louisa. 
“Let us follow the sound: it may be a wanderer starving 
on the hill.” 

Urged by this consideration, the females pursued the 
low mournful sounds that proceeded from the forest with 
quick and impatient steps. More than once the ardent 
Elizabeth was on the point of announcing that she saw 
the sufferer, when Louisa caught her by the arm, and 
pointing behind them, cried : — 

“Look at the dog ! ” 

Brave had been their companion from the time the 
voice of his young mistress lured him from his kennel to 
the present moment. His advanced age had long before 
deprived him of his activity; and when his companions 
stopped to view the scenery or to add to their bouquets, 
the mastiff would lay his huge frame on the ground and 
await their movements, with his eyes closed and a list- 
lessness in his air that ill accorded with the character of a 
protector. But when, aroused by this cry from Louisa, 
Miss Temple turned, she saw the dog with his eyes keenly 
set on some distant object, his head bent near the ground 
and his hair actually rising on his body through fright or 
anger. It was most probably the latter, for he was growl- 
ing in a low key, and occasionally showing his teeth in 
a manner that would have terrified his mistress had she 
not so well known his good qualities. 

“Brave!” she said, “be quiet, Brave! what do you 
see, fellow ? ” 

At the sounds of her voice, the rage ^ of the mastiff, 
instead of being at all diminished, was very sensibly in- 
creased. He stalked in front of the ladies and seated 


318 


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himself at the feet of his mistress, growling louder than 
before and occasionally giving vent to his ire by a short/ 
surly barking. 

“What does he see?” said Elizabeth: “there must he 
some animal in sight.” 

Hearing no answer from her companion, Miss Temple 
turned her head, and beheld Louisa, standing with her 
face whitened to the color of death and her finger pointing 
upwards, with a sort of flickering, convulsed motion. The 
quick eye of Elizabeth glanced in the direction indicated 
by her friend, where she saw the fierce front and glaring 
eyes of a female panther, fixed on them in horrid malig- 
nity and threatening to leap . 1 

“ Let us fly ! ” exclaimed Elizabeth, grasping the arm 
of Louisa, whose form yielded like melting snow. 

There was not a single feeling in the temperament of 
Elizabeth Temple that could prompt her to desert a com- 
panion in such an extremity. She fell on her knees, by 
the side of the inanimate Louisa, tearing from the person 
of her friend with instinctive readiness such parts of her 
dress as might obstruct her respiration, and encouraging 
their only safeguard, the dog, at the same time, by the 
sounds of her voice. 

“ Courage, Brave ! ” she cried, her own tones beginning 
to tremble, “courage, courage, good Brave!” 

A quarter-grown cub, that had hitherto been unseen, 
now appeared, dropping from the branches of a sapling 
that grew under the shade of the beech which held its 
dam. This ignorant hut vicious creature approached the 
dog, imitating the actions and sounds of its parent, hut 


1 Not long since there appeared in the papers an account of a hunter, 
upon whose head a panther had leaped, as he was sitting in the woods. 
A severe struggle ensued. The man was seriously wounded, but saved 
himself by plunging into a piece of water close at hand, and diving be- 
neath the surface. There can be no doubt that these animals have oc- 
casionally inflicted fatal wounds. Governor DeWitt Clinton mentioned 
a panther, killed early in this century near Oneida Lake, by a French- 
man. The animal was shot in the attitude of leaping on the man. Its 
length was nine feet eleven inches. The head was taken to Schenectadv, 
where it may possibly still be found. — S. F. C. 


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319 


exhibiting a strange mixture of the playfulness of a kitten 
with the ferocity of its race. Standing on its hind-legs, 
it would rend the hark of a tree with its fore-paws and 
play the antics of a cat; and then, by lashing itself with 
its tail, growling and scratching the earth, it would at- 
tempt the manifestations of anger that rendered its parent 
so terrific. 

All this time Brave stood firm and undaunted, his short 
tail erect, his body drawn backward on its haunches and 
his eyes following the movements of both dam and cub. 
At every gambol played by the latter it approached nigher 
to the dog, the growling of the three becoming more hor- 
rid at each moment, until the younger beast, overleaping 
its intended bound, fell directly before the mastiff. There 
was a moment of fearful cries and struggles, but they 
ended almost as soon as commenced, by the cub appearing 
in the air, hurled from the jaws of Brave, with a violence 
that sent it against a tree so forcibly as to render it com- 
pletely senseless. 

Elizabeth witnessed the short struggle, and her blood 
was warming with the triumph of the dog, when she saw 
the form of the old panther in the air, springing twenty 
feet from the branch of the beech to the back of the mas- 
tiff. No words of ours can describe the fury of the con- 
flict that followed. It was a confused struggle on the 
dry leaves, accompanied by loud and terrific cries. Miss 
Temple continued on her knees, bending over the form of 
Louisa, her eyes fixed on the animals with an interest so 
horrid and yet so intense that she almost forgot her own 
stake in the result. So rapid and vigorous were the bounds 
of the inhabitant of the forest that its active frame seemed 
constantly in the air, while the dog nobly faced his foe 
at each successive leap. When the panther lighted on 
the shoulders of the mastiff, which was its constant aim, 
old Brave, though torn with her talons and stained with 
his own blood, that already flowed from a dozen wounds, 
would shake off his furious foe like a feather, and rearing 
on his hind legs rush to the fray again, with jaws dis- 
tended and a dauntless eye. But age, and his pampered 


320 


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life, greatly disqualified the noble mastiff for such a strug- 
gle. In everything but courage, he was only the vestige 
of what he had once been. A higher bound than ever 
raised the wary and furious beast far beyond the reach of 
the dog, who was making a desperate but fruitless dash 
at her, from which she alighted in a favorable position on 
the hack of her aged foe. For a single moment only could 
the panther remain there, the great strength of the dog 
returning with a convulsive effort. But Elizabeth saw, 
as Brave fastened his teeth in the side of his enemy, that 
the collar of brass around his neck, which had been glit- 
tering throughout the fray, was of the color of blood; and 
directly, that his frame was sinking to the earth, where it 
soon lay prostrate and helpless. Several mighty efforts of 
the wild-cat to extricate herself from the jaws of the dog 
followed, but they were fruitless, until the mastiff turned 
on his back, his lips collapsed, and his teeth loosened, 
when the short convulsions and stillness that succeeded 
announced the death of poor Brave. 

Elizabeth now lay wholly at the mercy of the beast. 
There is said to be something in the front of the image of 
the Maker that daunts the hearts of the inferior beings of 
his creation; and it would seem that some such power, in 
the present instance, suspended the threatened blow. The 
eyes of the monster and the kneeling maiden met for an 
instant, when the former stooped to examine her fallen 
foe ; next to scent her luckless cub. From the latter ex- 
amination it turned, however, with its eyes apparently 
emitting flashes of fire, its tail lashing its sides furiously, 
and its claws projecting inches from its broad feet. 

Miss Temple did not or could not move. Her hands 
were clasped in the attitude of prayer, but her eyes were 
still drawn to her terrible enemy ; her cheeks were blanched 
to the whiteness of marble, and her lips were slightly 
separated with horror. 

The moment seemed now to have arrived for the fatal 
termination, and the beautiful figure of Elizabeth was bow- 
ing meekly to the stroke, when a rustling of leaves behind 
seemed rather to mock the organs than to meet her ears. 


THE PIONEERS 321 

“Hist! hist!” said a low voice, “stoop lower, gal; 
your bonnet hides the creatur’s head.” 

It was rather the yielding of nature than a compliance 
with this unexpected order that caused the head of our 
heroine to sink on her bosom; when she heard the report 
of the rifle, the whizzing of the bullet, and the enraged 
cries of the beast, who was rolling over on the earth, bit- 
ing its own flesh and tearing the twigs and branches within 
its reach. At the next instant the form of the Leather- 
Stocking rushed by her, and he called aloud: — 

“Come in, Hector, come in, old fool; ’tis a hard-lived 
animal and may jump agin.” 

Natty fearlessly maintained his position in front of the 
females, notwithstanding the violent bounds and threaten- 
ing aspect of the wounded panther, which gave several 
indications of returning strength and ferocity, until his 
rifle was again loaded ; when he stepped up to the enraged 
animal, and placing the muzzle close to its head, every 
spark of life was extinguished by the discharge. 

The death of her terrible enemy appeared to Elizabeth 
like a resurrection from her own grave. There was an 
elasticity in the mind of our heroine that rose to meet the 
pressure of instant danger, and the more direct it had 
been, the more her nature had struggled to overcome it. 
But still she was a woman. Had she been left to herself 
in her late extremity, she would probably have used her 
faculties to the utmost, and with discretion, in protecting 
her person; but encumbered with her inanimate friend, 
retreat was a thing not to be attempted. Notwithstand- 
ing the fearful aspect of her foe, the eye of Elizabeth had 
never shrunk from its gaze, and long after the event her 
thoughts would recur to her passing sensations, and the 
sweetness of her midnight sleep would be disturbed, as 
her active fancy conjured in dreams the most trifling move- 
ments of savage fury that the beast had exhibited in its 
moment of power. 

We shall leave the reader to imagine the restoration of 
Louisa’s senses, and the expressions of gratitude which 
fell from the young women. The former was effected by 


322 


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a little water, that was brought from one of the thousand 
springs of those mountains, in the cap of the Leather- 
Stocking; and the latter were uttered with the warmth 
that might be expected from the character of Elizabeth. 
Natty received her vehement protestations of gratitude 
with a simple expression of goodwill, and with indulgence 
for her present excitement, but with a carelessness that 
showed how little he thought of the service he had ren- 
dered. 

“Well, well,” he said, “he it so, gal; let it he so, if 
you wish it — we ’ll talk the thing over another time. 
Come, come; let us get into the road, for you’ve had 
terror enough to make you wish yourself in your father’s 
house agin.” 

This was uttered as they were proceeding, at a pace 
that was adapted to the weakness of Louisa, towards the 
highway: on reaching which, the ladies separated from 
their guide, declaring themselves equal to the remainder 
of the walk without his assistance, and feeling encouraged 
by the sight of the village which lay beneath their feet 
like a picture, with its limpid lake in front, the winding 
stream along its margin, and its hundred chimneys of 
whitened bricks. 

The reader need not he told the nature of the emotions 
which two youthful, ingenuous, and well-educated girls 
would experience at their escape from a death so horrid as 
the one which had impended over them, while they pur- 
sued their way in silence along the track on the side of 
the mountain; nor how deep were their mental thanks to 
that Power which had given them their existence and 
which had not deserted them in their extremity; neither 
how often they pressed each other’s arms, as the assurance 
of their present safety came like a healing halm athwart 
their troubled spirits, when their thoughts were recurring 
to the recent moments of horror. 

Leather- Stocking remained on the hill, gazing after their 
retiring figures until they were hidden by a bend in the 
road, when he whistled in his dogs, and shouldering his 
rifle he returned into the forest; 


THE PIONEERS 


323 


“Well, it was a skeary thing to the young creatur’s,” 
said Natty, while he retrod the path towards the plain. 
“It might frighten an older woman to see a she-painter 
so near her with a dead cub by its side. I wonder if 
I had aimed at the varmint’s eye, if I shouldn’t have 
touched the life sooner than in the forehead ; but they are 
hard-lived animals, and it was a good shot, consid’ring 
that I could see nothing hut the head and the peak of its 
tail. Ha ! who goes there 1 ” 

“ How goes it, Natty ? ” said Mr. Doolittle, stepping 
out of the bushes, with a motion that was a good deal 
accelerated by the sight of the rifle, that was already low- 
ered in his direction. “ What ! shooting this warm day ! 
mind, old man, the law don’t get hold on you.” 

“The law, Squire! I have shook hands with the law 
these forty year,” returned Natty; “for what has a man 
who lives in the wilderness to do with the ways of the 
law ? ” 

“Not much, maybe,” said Hiram; “but you sometimes 
trade in venison. I s’ pose you know, Leather- Stocking, 
that there is an act passed to lay a fine of five pounds 
currency, or twelve dollars and fifty cents, by decimals, 
on every man who kills a deer betwixt January and Au- 
gust. The Judge had a great hand in getting the law 
through. ” 

“I can believe it,” returned the old hunter; “I can 
believe that, or anything, of a man who carries on as he 
does in the country.” 

“Yes, the law is quite positive, and the Judge is bent 
on putting it in force — five pounds penalty. I thought 
I heard your hounds out on the scent of so’thing this 
morning; I didn’t know but they might get you in diffi- 
culty. ” 

“They know their manners too well,” said Natty, care- 
lessly. “And how much goes to the State’s evidence, 
Squire 1 ” 

“How much!” repeated Hiram, quailing under the 
honest but sharp look of the hunter; “the informer gets 
half, I — I believe; yes, I guess it’s half. But there’s 


324 


THE HONEERS 


blood on your sleeve, man; you haven’t been shooting 
anything this morning ? ” 

“I have, though,” said the hunter, nodding his head 
significantly to the other, “and a good shot I made of it.” 

“H-e-m! ” ejaculated the magistrate; “and where is the 
game? I s’ pose it ’s of a good natur’, for your dogs won’t 
hunt at anything that isn’t choice.” 

“They ’ll hunt anything I tell them to, Squire,” cried 
Natty, favoring the other with his laugh. “They ’ll hunt 
you, if I say so. He-e-e-re, he-e-e-re, Hector — he-e-e-re, 
slut : come this-a-way, pups, come this-a-way ; come hither ! ” 
“Oh, I have always heard a good character of the 
dogs, ” returned Mr. Doolittle, quickening his pace by rais- 
ing each leg in rapid succession, as the hounds scented 
around his person. “And where is the game, Leather- 
Stocking ? ” 

During this dialogue, the speakers had been walking 
at a very fast gait, and Natty swung the end of his rifle 
round, pointing through the bushes, and replied : — 

“ There lies one. How do you like such meat ? ” 

“ This ! ” exclaimed Hiram ; “ why this is Judge Tem- 
ple’s dog Brave. Take care, Leather- Stocking, and don’t 
make an enemy of the Judge. I hope you haven’t 
harmed the animal ? ” 

“Look for yourself, Mr. Doolittle,” said Natty, draw- 
ing his knife from his girdle, and wiping it, in a knowing 
manner, once or twice across his garment of buckskin; 
“does his throat look as if I had cut it with this knife? ” 
“It is dreadfully torn! it ’s an awful wound — no knife 
never did this deed. Who could have done it ? ” 

“The painters behind you, Squire.” 

“Painters!” echoed Hiram, whirling on his heel with 
an agility that would have done credit to a dancing-master. 

“Be easy, man,” said Natty; “there ’s two of the ven- 
omous things; but the dog finished one and I have fast- 
ened the other’s jaws for her; so don’t be frightened, 
Squire, they won’t hurt you.” 

“And where’s the deer?” cried Hiram, staring about 
him with a bewildered air. 


THE PIONEERS 


325 


“ Anan ? deer ! ” repeated Natty. 

“Sartain, ain’t there venison here, or didn’t you kill 
a buck ? ” 

“What! when the law forbids the thing, Squire!” said 
the old hunter. “I hope there ’s no law agin killing the 
painters. ” 

“No; there ’s a bounty on the scalps; but — will your 
dogs hunt painters, Natty ? ” 

“Anything; didn’t I tell you they’d hunt a man? 
He-e-re, he-e-re, pups ” — 

“Yes, yes, I remember. Well, they are strange dogs, 
I must say — I am quite in a wonderment. ” 

Natty had seated himself on the ground, and having 
laid the grim head of his late ferocious enemy in his lap, 
was drawing his knife with a practiced hand around the 
ears, which he tore from the head of the beast in such 
a manner as to preserve their connection, when he an- 
swered : — 

“ What at, Squire ? did you never see a painter’s scalp 
afore? Come, you are a magistrate, I wish you’d make 
me out an order for the bounty.” 

“ The bounty ! ” repeated Hiram, holding the ears on 
the end of his finger, for a moment, as if uncertain how 
to proceed. “Well, let us go down to your hut, where 
you can take the oath, and I will write out the order. I 
suppose you have a Bible ? all the law wants is the four 
evangelists and the Lord’s prayer.” 

“I keep no books,” said Natty, a little coldly: “not 
such a Bible as the law needs.” 

“Oh, there’s but one sort of Bible that’s good in 
law,” returned the magistrate: “and your’n will do as 
well as another’s. Come, the carcasses are worth nothing, 
man ; let us go down and take the oath. ” 

“Softly, softly, Squire,” said the hunter, lifting his 
trophies very deliberately from the ground, and shoulder- 
ing his rifle; “why do you want an oath at all, for a 
thing that your own eyes has seen? won’t you believe 
yourself, that another man must swear to a fact that you 
know to be true? You have seen me scalp the creatur’s, 


326 


THE PIONEERS 


and if I must swear to it, it shall be before Judge Temple, 
who needs an oath.” 

“But we have no pen or paper here, Leather-Stocking; 
we must go to the hut for them, or how can I write the 
order ? ” 

Natty turned his simple features on the cunning magis- 
trate with another of his laughs, as he said : — 

“ And what should I be doing with scholars’ tools ? I 
want no pens or paper, not knowing the use of either; 
and I keep none. No, no, I ’ll bring the scalps into the 
village, Squire, and you can make out the order on one 
of your law-books, and it will be all the better for it. 
The deuce take this leather on the neck of the dog, it 
will strangle the old fool. Can you lend me a knife, 
Squire ? ” 

Hiram, who seemed particularly anxious to be on good 
terms with his companion, unhesitatingly complied. 
Natty cut the thong from the neck of the hound, and, as 
he returned the knife to its owner, carelessly remarked : — 

“’Tis a good bit of steel, and has cut such leather as 
this very same before now, I dare say.” 

“Do you mean to charge me with letting your hounds 
loose 1 ” exclaimed Hiram, with a consciousness that dis- 
armed his caution. 

“Loose!” repeated the hunter, “I let them loose my- 
self. I always let them loose before I leave the hut.” 

The ungovernable amazement with which Mr. Doolittle 
listened to this falsehood would have betrayed his agency 
in the liberation of the dogs, had Natty wanted any fur- 
ther confirmation ; and the coolness and management of the 
old man now disappeared in open indignation. 

“Look you here, Mr. Doolittle,” he said, striking the 
breech of his rifle violently on the ground; “what there 
is in the wigwam of a poor man like me that one like you 
can crave, I don’t know ; but this I tell you to your face, 
that you never shall put foot under the roof of my cabin 
with my consent, and that if you harbor round the spot 
as you have done lately, you may meet with treatment 
that you will little relish. ” 


THE PIONEERS 


327 


“And let me tell you, Mr. Bumppo,” said Hiram, re- 
treating, however, with a quick step, “that I know you ’ve 
broke the law, and that I ’m a magistrate, and will make 
you feel it too, before you are a day older.” 

“That for you and your law too,” cried Natty, snap- 
ping his fingers at the justice of the peace: “away with 
you, you varmint, before the devil tempts me to give you 
your desarts. Take care, if I ever catch your prowl- 
ing face in the woods agin, that I don’t shoot it for an 
owl. ” 

There is something at all times commanding in honest 
indignation, and Hiram did not stay to provoke the wrath 
of the old hunter to extremities. When the intruder was 
out of sight, Natty proceeded to the hut, where he found 
all quiet as the grave. He fastened his dogs, and tapping 
at the door, which was opened by Edwards, asked : — 

“ Is all safe, lad 1 ” 

“Everything,” returned the youth. “Some one at- 
tempted the lock, but it was too strong for him.” 

“I know the creatur’,” said Natty, “but he ’ll not trust 
himself within reach of my rifle very soon” — What 
more was uttered by the Leather- Stocking, in his vexa- 
tion, was rendered inaudible by the closing of the door of 
the cabin. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure. 

Shakespeare: Timon of Athens , IV. iii. 


When Marmaduke Temple and his cousin rode through 
the gate of the former, the heart of the father had been 
too recently touched with the best feelings of our nature 
to leave inclination for immediate discourse. There was 
an importance in the air of Bichard which would not have 
admitted of the ordinary informal conversation of' the 
Sheriff without violating all the rules of Consistency ; and 
the equestrians pursued their way with great diligence for 
more than a mile in profound silence. At length the soft 


328 


THE PIONEERS 


expression of parental affection was slowly chased from 
the handsome features of the Judge, and was gradually 
supplanted by the cast of humor and benevolence that was 
usually seated on his brow. 

“Well, Dickon,” he said, “since I have yielded myself 
so far implicitly to your guidance, I think the moment has 
arrived when I am entitled to further confidence. Why 
and wherefore are we journeying together in this solemn 
gait ? ” 

The Sheriff gave a loud hem, that rang far in the for- 
est, and keeping his eyes fixed on objects before him, like 
a man who is looking deep into futurity : — 

“ There has always been one point of difference between 
us, Judge Temple, I may say, since our nativity,” he re- 
plied; “not that I would insinuate that you are at all an- 
swerable for the acts of nature; for a man is no more to 
be condemned for the misfortunes of his birth than he is 
to be commended for the natural advantages he may pos- 
sess; but on one point we may be said to have differed 
from our births, and they, you know, occurred within two 
days of each other.” 

“I really marvel, Richard, what this one point can be; 
for to my eyes we seem to differ so materially, and so 
often ” — 

“ Mere consequences, sir,” interrupted the Sheriff ; “all 
our minor differences proceed from one, cause, and that is 
our opinions of the universal attainments of genius.” 

“In what, Dickon?” 

“I speak plain English, I believe, Judge Temple; at 
least I ought; for my father, who taught me, could 
speak ” — 

“ Greek and Latin, ” interrupted Marmaduke. “I well 
know the qualifications of your family in tongues, Dickon. 
But proceed to the point; why are we traveling over this 
mountain to-day ? ” 

“To do justice to any subject, sir, the narrator must be 
suffered to proceed in his own way, ” continued the Sheriff. 
“ You are of opinion, Judge Temple, that a man is to be 
qualified by nature and education to do only one thing well, 


THE PIONEERS 


329 


whereas I know that genius will supply the place of learn- 
ing, and that a certain sort of man can do anything and 
everything. ” 

“Like yourself, I suppose,” said Marmaduke, smiling. 

“I scorn personalities, sir; I say nothing of myself; hut 
there are three men on your Patent, of the kind that I 
should term talented by nature for her general purposes, 
though acting under the influence of different situations.” 

“We are better off, then, than I had supposed. Who 
are these triumviri ? ” 

“ Why, sir, one is Hiram Doolittle ; a carpenter by 
trade, as you know, — and I need only point to the vil- 
lage to exhibit his merits. Then he is a magistrate, and 
might shame many a man, in his distribution of justice, 
who has had better opportunities.” 

“Well, he is one,” said Marmaduke, with the air of a 
man that was determined not to dispute the point. 

“ Jotham Eiddel is another.” 

“Who?” 

“Jotham Eiddel.” 

“What! that dissatisfied, shiftless, lazy, speculating 
fellow ! he who changes his county every three years, his 
farm every six months, and his occupation every season; 
an agriculturist yesterday, a shoemaker to-day, and a 
schoolmaster to-morrow ? that epitome of all the unsteady 
and profitless propensities of the settlers without one of 
their good qualities to counterbalance the evil! Nay, 
Eichard, this is too bad for even — but the third ? ” 

“As the third is not used to hearing such comments on 
his character, Judge Temple, I shall not name him.” 

“The amount of all this, then, Dickon, is that the trio, 
of which you are one and the principal, have made some 
important discovery. ” 

“I have not said that I am one, Judge Temple. As 
I told you before, I say nothing egotistical. But a dis- 
covery has been made, and you are deeply interested in it.” 

“Proceed — I am all ears.” 

“No, no, ’Duke, you are bad enough, I own, but not 
so bad as that either; your ears are not quite full grown.” 


330 


THE PIONEERS 


The Sheriff laughed heartily at his own wit, and put 
himself in good humor thereby, when he gratified his 
patient cousin with the following explanation : — 

“You know, ’Duke, there is a man living on your es- 
tate, that goes by the name of Natty Bumppo. Here has 
this man lived, by what I can learn, for more than forty 
years — by himself, until lately; and now with strange 
companions.” 

“Part very true, and all very probable,” said the Judge. 

“All true, sir; all true. Well, within these last few 
months have appeared as his companions an old Indian 
chief, the last, or one of the last of his tribe that is to be 
found in this part of the country, and a young man who 
is said to be the son of some Indian agent by a squaw.” 

“ Who says that ? ” cried Marmaduke, with an interest 
that he had not manifested before. 

“Who? why, common sense — common report — the 
hue and cry. But listen till you know all. This youth 
has very pretty talents — yes, what I call very pretty tal- 
ents — and has been well educated, has seen very tolera- 
ble company, and knows how to behave himself when he 
has a mind to. Now, Judge Temple, can you tell me 
what has brought three such men as Indian John, Natty 
Bumppo, and Oliver Edwards together ? ” 

Marmaduke turned his countenance, in evident surprise, 
to his cousin, and replied quickly : — 

“Thou hast unexpectedly hit on a subject, Bichard, 
that has often occupied my mind. But knowest thou any- 
thing of this mystery, or are they only the crude conjec- 
tures of ” — 

“Crude nothing, ’Duke, crude nothing; hut facts, stub- 
born facts. You know there are mines in these moun- 
tains; I have often heard you say that you believed in 
their existence.” 

“Beasoning from analogy, Bichard, but not with any 
certainty of the fact.” 

“You have heard them mentioned, and have seen speci- 
mens of the ore, sir ; you will not deny that ! and, reason- 
ing from analogy, as you say, if there he mines in South 


THE PIONEERS 


331 


America, ought there not to be mines in North America 
too?” 

“Nay, nay, I deny nothing, my cousin. I certainly 
have heard many rumors of the existence of mines in these 
hills ; and I do believe that I have seen specimens of the 
precious metals that have been found here. It would oc- 
casion me no surprise to learn that tin and silver, or what 
I consider of more consequence, good coal ” — 

“Damn your coal,” cried the Sheriff; “who wants to 
find coal in these forests ? No, no, silver, ’Duke; silver 
is the one thing needful, and silver is to be found. But 
listen : you are not to be told that the natives have long 
known the use of gold and silver ; now who so likely to be 
acquainted where they are to be found as the ancient inhab- 
itants of a country ? I have the best reasons for believing 
that both Mohegan and the Leather-Stocking have baen 
privy to the existence of a mine in this very mountain for 
many years.” 

The Sheriff had now touched his cousin in a sensitive 
spot; and Marmaduke lent a more attentive ear to the 
speaker, who, after waiting a moment, to see the effect of 
this extraordinary development, proceeded : — 

“ Yes, sir, I have my reasons, and at a proper time you 
shall know them.” 

“No time so good as the present.” 

“Well, well, be attentive,” continued Richard, looking 
cautiously about him, to make certain that no eavesdropper 
was hid in the forest, though they were in constant motion. 
“I have seen Mohegan and the Leather- Stocking, with my 
own eyes — and my eyes are as good as anybody’s eyes — 
I have seen them, I say, both going up the mountain and 
coming down it with spades and picks; and others have 
seen them carrying things into their hut in a secret and 
mysterious manner after dark. Do you call this a fact of 
importance ? ” 

The Judge did not reply, but his brow tiad contracted, 
with a thoughtfulness that he always wore when much in- 
terested, and his eyes rested on his cousin in expectation 
of hearing more. Richard continued : — 


332 


THE PIONEERS 


“It was ore. Now, sir, I ask if you can tell me who 
this Mr. Oliver Edwards is, that has made a part of your 
household since Christmas ? ” 

Marmaduke again raised his eyes, but continued silent, 
shaking his head in the negative. 

“That he is a half-breed we know, for Mohegan does 
not scruple to call him openly his kinsman; that he is 
well educated we know. But as to his business here — do 
you remember that about a month before this young man 
made his appearance among us, Natty was absent from 
home several days? You do; for you inquired for him, 
as you wanted some venison to take to your friends when 
you went for Bess. Well, he was not to be found. Old 
John was left in the hut alone; and when Natty did ap- 
pear, although he came on in the night, he was seen draw- 
ing one of those jumpers 1 that they carry their grain to 
mill in, and to take out something with great care, that he 
had covered up under his bearskins. Now let me ask you, 
Judge Temple, what motive could induce a man like the 
Leather-Stocking to make a sled, and toil with a load over 
these mountains, if he had nothing but his rifle or his 
ammunition to carry ? ” 

“They frequently make these jumpers to convey their 
game home, and you say he had been absent many days.” 

“ How did he kill it ? His rifle was in the village, to 
be mended. No, no; that he was gone to some unusual 
place is certain ; that he brought back some secret utensils 
is more certain; and that he has not allowed a soul to 
approach his hut since is most certain of all.” 

“ He was never fond of intruders ” — 

“I know it,” interrupted Bichard; “but did he drive 
them from his cabin morosely ? Within a fortnight of his 
return, this Mr. Edwards appears. They spend whole 
days in the mountains, pretending to be shooting but in 
reality exploring ; the frosts prevent their digging at that 
time, and he avails himself of a lucky accident to get into 
good quarters. But even now, he is quite half of his time 
in that hut — many hours every night. They are smelt- 

1 [See Cooper’s note, p. 3.] 


THE PIONEERS 


333 


ing, ’Duke, they are smelting, and as they grow rich you 
grow poor.” 

“How much of this is thine own, Eichard, and how 
much comes from others? I would sift the wheat from 
the chaff.” 

“Part is my own, for I saw the jumper, though it was 
broken up and burnt in a day or two. I have told you 
that I saw the old man with his spades and picks. Hiram 
met Natty as he was crossing the mountain the night of 
his arrival with the sled, and very good-naturedly offered 
— Hiram is good-natured — to carry up part of his load, 
for the old man had a heavy pull up the back of the moun- 
tain; but he wouldn’t listen to the thing, and repulsed the 
offer in such a manner that the Squire said he had half 
a mind to swear the peace against him. Since the snow 
has been off, more especially after the frosts got out of the 
ground, we have kept a watchful eye on the gentleman, in 
which we have found Jotham useful.” 

Marmaduke did not much like the associates of Eichard 
in this business; still he knew them to be cunning and 
ready in expedients ; and as there was certainly something 
mysterious, not only in the connection between the old 
hunters and Edwards, but in what his cousin had just re- 
lated, he began to revolve the subject in his own mind 
with more care. On reflection he remembered various 
circumstances that tended to corroborate these suspicions, 
and, as the whole business favored one of his infirmities, 
he yielded the more readily to their impression. The 
mind of Judge Temple, at all times comprehensive, had 
received from his peculiar occupations a bias to look far 
into futurity, in his speculations on the improvements 
that posterity were to make in his lands. To his eye 
where others saw nothing but a wilderness, towns, manu- 
factories, bridges, canals, mines, and all the other resources 
of an old country were constantly presenting themselves, 
though his good sense suppressed in some # degree the ex- 
hibition of these expectations. 

As the Sheriff allowed his cousin full time to reflect on 
what he had heard, the probability of some pecuniary 


334 


THE PIONEERS 


adventure being the connecting link in the chain that 
brought Oliver Edwards into the cabin of Leather-Stock- 
ing appeared to him each moment to be stronger. But 
Marmaduke was too much in the habit of examining both 
sides of a subject not to perceive the objections, and he 
reasoned with himself aloud: — 

“It cannot be so, or the youth would not be driven so 
near the verge of poverty.’’ 

“ What so likely to make a man dig for money as being 
poor ? ” cried the Sheriff. 

“ Besides, there is an elevation of character about Oliver 
that proceeds from education, which would forbid so clan- 
destine a proceeding.” 

“ Could an ignorant fellow smelt ? ” continued Bichard. 

“Bess hints that he was reduced even to his last shill- 
ing when we took him into our dwelling.” 

“He had been buying tools. And would he spend his 
last sixpence for a shot at a turkey, had he not known 
where to get more ? ” 

“Can I have possibly been so long a dupe! His man- 
ner has been rude to me at times; but I attributed it to 
his conceiving himself injured, and to his mistaking the 
forms of the world.” 

“Haven’t you been a dupe all your life, ’Duke? and 
ain’t what you call ignorance of forms deep cunning, to 
conceal his real character ? ” 

“If he were bent on deception, he would have concealed 
his knowledge and passed with us for an inferior man.” 

“ He cannot. I could no more pass for a fool, myself, 
than I could fly. Knowledge is not to be concealed, like 
a candle under a bushel.” 

“Bichard,” said the Judge, turning to his cousin, 
“there are many reasons against the truth of thy conjec- 
tures ; but thou hast awakened suspicions which must be 
satisfied. But why are we traveling here ? ” 

“ Jotham, who has been much in the mountain latterly, 
being kept there by me and Hiram, has made a discovery, 
which he will not explain, he says, for he is bound by an 
oath ; but the amount is, that he knows where the ore lies, 


THE PIONEERS 


335 


and he has this day begun to dig. I would not consent to 
the thing, ’Duke, without your knowledge, for the land is 
yours; and now you know the reason of our ride. I call 
this a countermine, ha ! ” 

“And where is the desirable spot?” asked the Judge, 
with an air half comical, half serious. 

“At hand; and when we have visited that, I will show 
you one of the places that we have found within a week, 
where our hunters have been amusing themselves for six 
months past.” 

The gentlemen continued to discuss the matter, while 
their horses picked their way under the branches of trees 
and over the uneven ground of the mountain. They soon 
arrived at the end of their journey, where in truth they 
found Jotham already buried to his neck in a hole that he 
had been digging. 

Marmaduke questioned the miner very closely, as to his 
reasons for believing in the existence of the precious metals 
near that particular spot; but the fellow maintained an 
obstinate mystery in his answers. He asserted that he 
had the best of reasons for what he did, and inquired of 
the Judge what portion of the profits would fall to his 
own share, in the event of success, with an earnestness that 
proved his faith. After spending an hour near the place, 
examining the stones, and searching for the usual indica- 
tions of the proximity of ore, the Judge remounted, and 
suffered his cousin to lead the way to the place where the 
mysterious trio had been making their excavation. 

The spot chosen by Jotham was on the back of the 
mountain that overhung the hut of Leather-Stocking, and 
the place selected by Natty and his companions was on the 
other side of the same hill, but above the road, and of 
course in an opposite direction to the route taken by the 
ladies in their walk. 

“We shall be safe in approaching the place now,” said 
Richard, while they dismounted and fastened their horses ; 
“for I took a look with the glass, and saw John and Lea- 
ther-Stocking in their canoe fishing, before we left home, 
and Oliver is in the same pursuit; but these may be no- 


336 


THE PIONEERS 


thing but shams, to blind our eyes, so we will be expedi- 
tious, for it would not be pleasant to be caught here by 
them.” 

“Not on my own land! ” said Marmaduke sternly. “If 
it be as you suspect, I will know their reasons for making 
this excavation.” 

“Mum,” said Eichard, laying a finger on his lip, and 
leading the way down a very difficult descent to a sort of 
natural cavern, which was found in the face of the rock, 
and was not unlike a fireplace in shape. In front of this 
place lay a pile of earth, which had evidently been taken 
from the recess, and part of which was yet fresh. An 
examination of the exterior of the cavern left the Judge 
in doubt whether it was one of nature’s frolics that had 
thrown it into that shape, or whether it had been wrought 
by the hands of man at some earlie’r period. But there 
could be no doubt that the whole of the interior was of 
recent formation, and marks of the pick were still visible, 
where the soft, lead-colored rock had opposed itself to the 
progress of the miners. The whole formed an excavation 
of about twenty feet in width, and nearly twice that dis- 
tance in depth. The height was much greater than was 
required for the ordinary purposes of experiment; but this 
was evidently the effect of chance, as the roof of the cav- 
ern was a natural stratum of rock, that projected many feet 
beyond the base of the pile. Immediately in front of the 
recess, or cave, was a little terrace, partly formed by na- 
ture and partly by the earth that had been carelessly 
thrown aside by the laborers. The mountain fell off pre- 
cipitously in front of the terrace, and the approach by its 
sides, under the ridge of the rocks, was difficult and a 
little dangerous. The whole was wild, rude, and appar- 
ently incomplete; for, while looking among the bushes, 
the Sheriff found the very implements that had been used 
in the work. 

When the Sheriff thought that his cousin had examined 
the spot sufficiently, he asked solemnly : — 

“ J udge Temple, are you satisfied ? ” 

“Perfectly, that there is something mysterious and per- 


THE PIONEEKS 337 

plexing in this business. It is a secret spot and cunningly 
devised, Richard; yet I see no symptoms of ore.” 

“ Do you expect, sir, to find gold and silver lying like 
pebbles on the surface of the earth ? — dollars and dimes 
ready coined to your hands! No, no — the treasure must 
be sought after to be won. But let them mine; I shall 
countermine. ” 

The Judge took an accurate survey of the place, and 
noted in his memorandum book such marks as were neces- 
sary to find it again, in the event of Richard’s absence; 
when the cousins returned to their horses. 

On reaching the highway they separated, the Sheriff to 
summon twenty-four “good men and true,” to attend at 
the inquest of the county, on the succeeding Monday, 
when Marmaduke held his stated court of “common pleas 
and general sessions of the peace,” and the Judge to re- 
turn, musing deeply on what he had seen and heard in 
the course of the morning. 

When the horse of the latter reached the spot where 
the highway fell towards the valley, the eye of Marma- 
duke rested, it is true, on the same scene that had, ten 
minutes before, been so soothing to the feelings of his 
daughter and her friend as they emerged from the forest; 
but it rested in vacancy. He threw the reins to his sure- 
footed beast, and suffered the animal to travel at its own 
gait, while he soliloquized as follows : — 

“ There may be more in this than I at first supposed. I 
have suffered my feeling to blind my reason, in admitting 
an unknown youth in this manner to my dwelling; yet 
this is not the land of suspicion. I will have the Leather- 
Stocking before me, and by a few direct questions extract 
the truth from the simple old man.” 

At that instant the Judge caught a glimpse of the fig- 
ures of Elizabeth and Louisa, who were slowly descending 
the mountain a short distance before him. He put spurs 
to his horse, and riding up to them, dismounted, and drove 
his steed along the narrow path. While the agitated par- 
ent was listening to the vivid description that his daugh- 
ter gave of her recent danger, and her unexpected escape, 


338 


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all thoughts of mines, vested rights, and examinations, 
were absorbed in emotion; and when the image of Natty 
again crossed his recollection, it was not as a lawless and 
depredating squatter, but as the preserver of his child. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 

Shakespeare : The Merchant of Venice , IV. i. 

Remarkable Pettibone, who had forgotten the 
wound received by her pride in contemplation of the ease 
and comforts of her situation, and who still retained her 
station in the family of Judge Temple, was dispatched to 
the humble dwelling which Richard already styled the 
rectory, in attendance on Louisa, who was soon consigned 
to the arms of her father. 

In the meantime, Marmaduke and his daughter were 
closeted for more than an hour, nor shall we invade the 
sanctuary of parental love by relating the conversation. 
When the curtain rises on the reader, the Judge is seen 
walking up and down the apartment, with a tender melan- 
choly in his air, and his child reclining on a settee, with 
a flushed cheek and her dark eyes seeming to float in 
crystals. 

“It was a timely rescue! it was, indeed, a timely res- 
cue, my child !” cried the Judge. “Then thou didst not 
desert thy friend, my noble Bess 1 ” 

“I believe I may as well take the credit of fortitude,’ 7 
said Elizabeth, “though I much doubt if flight would 
have availed me anything, had I even courage to execute 
such an intention. But I thought not of the expedient.” 

“ Of what didst thou think, love ? — where did thy 
thoughts dwell most, at that fearful moment 1 ” 

“ The beast ! the beast ! ” cried Elizabeth, veiling her 
face with her hand: “Oh, I saw nothing, I thought of 
nothing but the beast. I tried to think of better things, 
but the horror was too glaring, the danger too much be- 
fore my eyes.” 


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339 


“Well, well, thou art safe, and we will converse no 
more on the unpleasant subject. I did not think such an 
animal yet remained in our forests ; but they will stray far 
from their haunts when pressed by hunger, and ” — 

A loud knocking at the door of the apartment inter- 
rupted what he was about to utter, and he bid the appli- 
cant enter. The door was opened by Benjamin, who came 
in with a discontented air, as if he felt that he had a 
communication to make that would be out of season. 

“Here is Squire Doolittle below, sir,” commenced the 
major-domo. “He has been standing off and on in the 
dooryard, for the matter of a glass; and he has summ’at 
on his mind that he wants to heave up, d’ ye see ; but I 
tells him, says I, ‘ Man, would you be coming aboard with 
your complaints, ’ said I, ‘ when the Judge has gotten his 
own child, as it were, out of the jaws of a lion?’ but 
damn the bit of manners has the fellow, any more than if 
he was one of them Guineas down in the kitchen there; 
and so as he was sheering nearer, every stretch he made 
towards the house, I could do no better than to let your 
honor know that the chap was in the offing.” 

“He must have business of importance,” said Marma- 
duke; “something in relation to his office, most probably, 
as the court sits so shortly.” 

“Aye, aye, you have it, sir,” cried Benjamin, “it’s 
summ’at about a complaint that he has to make of the old 
Leather- Stocking, who, to my judgment, is the better man 
of the two. It ’s a very good sort of a man is this Master 
Bumppo, and he has a way with a spear, all the same as if 
he was brought up at the bow oar of the captain’s barge, 
or was born with a boat-hook in his hand.” 

“Against the Leather-Stocking!” cried Elizabeth, ris- 
ing from her reclining posture. 

“Best easy, my child; some trifle, I pledge you: I be- 
lieve I am already acquainted with its import. Trust me, 
Bess, your champion shall be safe in my care* Show Mr. 
Doolittle in, Benjamin.” 

Miss Temple appeared satisfied with this assurance, but 
fastened her dark eyes on the person of the architect, who 


340 


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profited by the permission, and instantly made his appear- 
ance. 

All the impatience of Hiram seemed to vanish the in- 
stant he entered the apartment. After saluting the Judge 
and his daughter, he took the chair to which Marmaduke 
pointed, and sat for a minute, composing his straight black 
hair with a gravity of demeanor that was intended to do 
honor to his official station. At length he said : — 

“ It ’s likely, from what I hear, that Miss Temple had a 
pretty narrow chance with the painters on the mountain.” 

Marmaduke made a gentle inclination of his head by 
way of assent, but continued silent. 

“I s’pose the law gives a bounty on the scalps,” con- 
tinued Hiram, “in which case the Leather-Stocking will 
make a good job on ’t.” 

“It shall be my care to see that he is rewarded,” re- 
turned the Judge. 

“Yes, yes, I rather guess that nobody hereabouts doubts 
the Judge’s generosity. Hoes he know whether the Sheriff 
has fairly made up his mind to have a reading-desk or a 
deacon’s pew under the pulpit?” 

“I have not heard my cousin speak on that subject, 
lately,” replied Marmaduke. 

“I think it’s likely that we will have a pretty dull 
court on ’t, from what I can gather. I hear that Jotham 
Riddel and the man who bought his betterments have 
agreed to leave their difference to men, and I don’t think 
there ’ll be more than two civil cases in the calendar.” 

“I am glad of it,” said the Judge; “nothing gives me 
more pain than to see my settlers wasting their time and 
substance in the unprofitable struggles of the law. I hope 
it may prove true, sir.” 

“I rather guess ’twill he left out to men,” added Hi- 
ram, with an air equally balanced between doubt and as- 
surance, but which Judge Temple understood to mean cer- 
tainty ; “ I some think that I am appointed a referee in the 
case myself; Jotham as much as told me that he should 
take me. The defendant, I guess, means to take Captain 
Hollister, and we two have partly agreed on Squire Jones 
for the third man.” 


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341 


“ Are there any criminals to be tried ? ” asked Marma- 
duke. 

“There’s the counterfeiters,” returned the magistrate; 
“as they were caught in the fact, I think it likely that 
they ’ll be indicted, in which case it ’s probable they ’ll be 
tried. ” 

“ Certainly, sir, I had forgotten those men. There are 
no more, I hope.” 

“Why, there is a threaten to come forrad with an as- 
sault, that happened at the last Independence Day; but 
I ’m not sartain that the law ’ll take hold on ’t. There 
was plaguey hard words passed, hut whether they struck 
or not I have n’t heard. There ’s some folks talk of a deer 
or two being killed out of season, over on the west side of 
the Patent, by some of the squatters on the ‘ Fractions. ’ ” 

“Let a complaint be made, by all means,” cried the 
Judge, “I am determined to see the law executed to the 
letter on all such depredators.” 

“Why, yes, I thought the Judge was of that mind; I 
come partly on such a business myself.” 

“ You ! ” exclaimed Marmaduke, comprehending in an 
instant how completely he had been caught by the other’s 
cunning; “and what have you to say, sir? ” 

“ I some think that Natty Bumppo has the carcass of a 
deer in his hut at this moment, and a considerable part of 
my business was to get a search-warrant to examine.” 

“You think, sir! do you know that the law exacts an 
oath, before I can issue such a precept? The habitation 
of a citizen is not to be idly invaded on light suspicion.” 

“I rather think I can swear to it myself,” returned the 
immovable Hiram; “and Jotham is in the street, and as 
good as ready to come in and make oath to the same 
thing. ” 

“Then issue the warrant thyself; thou art a magistrate, 
Mr. Doolittle ; why trouble me with the matter ? ” 

“Why, seeing it’s the first complaint under the law, 
and knowing the Judge set his heart on the thing, I 
thought it best that the authority to search should come 
from himself. Besides, as I ’m much in the woods, among 


342 


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the timber, I don’t altogether like making an enemy of 
the Leather-Stocking. Now the Judge has a weight in 
the county that puts him above fear.” 

Miss Temple turned her face to the callous architect, 
as she said, — 

“And what has any honest person to dread from so 
kind a man as Bumppo ? ” 

“Why, it’s as easy, Miss, to pull a rifle-trigger on a 
magistrate as on a painter. But if the Judge don’t con- 
clude to issue the warrant, I must go home and make it 
out myself.” 

“I have not refused your application, sir,” said Mar- 
maduke, perceiving at once that his reputation for impar- 
tiality was at stake; “go into my office, Mr. Doolittle, 
where I will join you, and sign the warrant.” 

Judge Temple stopped the remonstrances which Eliza- 
beth was about to utter, after Hiram had withdrawn, by 
laying his hand on her mouth, and saying, — 

“It is more terrific in sound than frightful in reality, 
my child. I suppose that the Leather- Stocking has shot 
a deer, for the season is nearly over, and you say that he 
was hunting with his dogs when he came so timely to 
your assistance. But it will be only to examine his cabin 
and find the animal, when you can pay the penalty out of 
your own pocket, Bess. Nothing short of the twelve 
dollars and a half will satisfy this harpy, I perceive; and 
surely my reputation as a judge is worth that trifle.” 

Elizabeth was a good deal pacified with this assurance, 
and suffered her father to leave her, to fulfill his promise 
to Hiram. 

When Marmaduke left his office, after executing his dis- 
agreeable duty, he met Oliver Edwards, walking up the 
graveled walk in front of the mansion-house, with great 
strides, and with a face agitated by feeling. On seeing 
Judge Temple, the youth turned aside, and with a warmth 
in his manner that was not often exhibited to Marmaduke, 
he cried : — 

“I congratulate you, sir; from the bottom of my soul 
I congratulate you, Judge Temple. Oh, it would have 


THE PIONEERS 


343 


been too horrid to have recollected for a moment! I have 
just left the hut, where, after showing me his scalps, old 
Natty told me of the escape of the ladies, as a thing to be 
mentioned last. Indeed, indeed, sir, no words of mine can 
express half of what I have felt ” — the youth paused a 
moment, as if suddenly recollecting that he was overstep- 
ping prescribed limits, and concluded with a good deal of 
embarrassment — “ what I have felt at this danger to Miss 
— Grant, and — and your daughter, sir. ” 

But the heart of Marmaduke was too much softened to 
admit of his caviling at trifles, and without regarding the 
confusion of the other, he replied : — 

“I thank thee, thank thee, Oliver; as thou sayest, it is 
almost too horrid to he remembered. But come, let us 
hasten to Bess, for Louisa has already gone to the rectory.” 

The young man sprang forward, and throwing open a 
door, barely permitted the Judge to precede him, when 
he was in the presence of Elizabeth in a moment. 

The cold distance that often crossed the demeanor of 
the heiress in her intercourse with Edwards was now en- 
tirely banished, and two hours were passed by the party 
in the free, unembarrassed, and confiding manner of old 
and esteemed friends. Judge Temple had forgotten the 
suspicions engendered during his morning’s ride, and the 
youth and maiden conversed, laughed, and were sad by 
turns, as impulse directed. At length Edwards, after re- 
peating his intention to do so for the third time, left the 
mansion-house to go to the rectory on a similar errand of 
friendship. 

During this short period, a scene was passing at the hut 
that completely frustrated the benevolent intentions of 
Judge Temple in favor of the Leather- Stocking, and at 
once destroyed the short-lived harmony between the youth 
and Marmaduke. 

When Hiram Doolittle had obtained his search-warrant, 
his first business was to procure a proper officer to see it 
executed. The Sheriff was absent, summoning in person 
the grand inquest for the county ; the deputy, who resided 
in the village, was riding on the same errand in a different 


344 


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part of the settlement; and the regular constable of the 
township had been selected for his station from motives 
of charity, being lame of a leg. Hiram intended to ac- 
company the officer as a spectator, but he felt no very 
strong desire to bear the brunt of the battle. It was, 
however, Saturday, and the sun was already turning the 
shadows of the pines towards the east; on the morrow 
the conscientious magistrate could not engage in such an 
expedition, at the peril of his soul; and long before Mon- 
day the venison, and all vestiges of the death of the deer, 
might be secreted or destroyed. Happily, the lounging 
form of Billy Kirby met his eye, and Hiram, at all times 
fruitful in similar expedients, saw his way clear at once. 
Jotham, who was associated in the whole business, and 
who had left the mountain in consequence of a summons 
from his coadjutor, but who failed equally with Hiram in 
the unfortunate particular of nerve, was directed to sum- 
mon the wood-chopper to the dwelling of the magistrate. 

When Billy appeared, he was very kindly invited to 
take the chair in which he had already seated himself, and 
was treated in all respects as if he were an equal. 

“Judge Temple has set his heart on putting the deer 
law in force,” said Hiram, after the preliminary civilities 
were over, “ and a complaint has been laid before him that 
a deer has been killed. He has issued a search-warrant, 
and sent for me to get somebody to execute it.” 

Kirby, who had no idea of being excluded from the 
deliberative part of any affair in which he was engaged, 
drew up his bushy head in a reflecting attitude, and, after 
musing a moment, replied by asking a few questions. 

“ The Sheriff is gone out of the way ? ” 

“Not to be found.” 

“ And his deputy too ? ” 

“Both gone on the skirts of the Patent.” 

“But I saw the constable hobbling about town an hour 
ago. ” 

“Yes, yes,” said Hiram, with a coaxing smile and know- 
ing nod, “but this business wants a man — not a cripple.” 

“Why,” said Billy, laughing, “will the chap make 
fight?” 


THE PIONEERS 


345 


“He’s a little quarrelsome at times, and thinks he ’s 
the best man in the country at rough and tumble.” 

“I heard him brag once,” said Jotham, “that there 
was n’t a man ’twixt the Mohawk Flats and the Pennsyl- 
vany line that was his match at a close hug.” 

“ Did you ? ” exclaimed Kirby, raising his huge frame 
in his seat, like a lion stretching in his lair; “I rather 
guess he never felt a Varmounter’s knuckles on his back- 
bone. But who is the chap ? ” 

“Why,” said Jotham, “it’s” — 

“It’s agin law to tell,” interrupted Hiram, “unless 
you ’ll qualify to sarve. You ’d be the very man to take 
him, Bill; and I’ll make out a special deputation in a 
minute, when you will get the fees.” 

“What ’s the fees? ” said Kirby, laying his large hand 
on the leaves of a statute-book, that Hiram had opened in 
order to give dignity to his office, which he turned over, 
in his rough manner, as if he were reflecting on a subject 
about which he had, in truth, already decided ; “ will they 
pay a man for a broken head ? ” 

“They ’ll be something handsome,” said Hiram. 

“Damn the fees,” said Billy, again laughing: “does 
the fellow think he ’s the best wrestler in the county, 
though ? what ’s his inches 1 ” 

“He ’s taller than you be,” said Jotham, “and one of 
the biggest” — 

Talkers, he was about to add, but the impatience of 
Kirby interrupted him. The wood-chopper had nothing 
fierce or even brutal in his appearance; the character of 
his expression was that of good-natured vanity. It was 
evident he prided himself on the powers of the physical 
man, like all who have nothing better to boast of; and, 
stretching out his broad hand, with the palm downwards, 
he said, keeping his eyes fastened on his own bones and 
sinews : — 

“ Come, give us a touch of the book. I ’ll swear, and 
you ’ll see that I ’m a man to keep my oath.” 

Hiram did not give the wood-chopper time to change 
his mind, but the oath was administered without unneces- 


346 


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sary delay. So soon as this preliminary was completed, 
the three worthies left the house, and proceeded by the 
nearest road towards the hut. They had reached the bank 
of the lake, and were diverging from the route of the high- 
way, before Kirby recollected that he was now entitled to 
the privilege of the initiated, and repeated his question as 
to the name of the offender. 

“ Which way, which way, Squire ? ” exclaimed the hardy 
wood-chopper; “I thought it was to search a house that 
you wanted me, not the woods. There is nobody lives on 
this side of the lake for six miles, unless you count the 
Leather-Stocking and old John for settlers. Come, tell me 
the chap’s name, and I warrant me that I lead you to his 
clearing by a straighter path than this, for I know every 
sapling that grows within two miles of Temple- town.” 

“This is the way,” said Hiram, pointing forward, and 
quickening his step, as if apprehensive that Kirby would 
desert, “and Bumppo is the man.” 

Kirby stopped short, and looked from one of his com- 
panions to the other in astonishment. He then hurst into 
a loud laugh, and cried : — 

“ Who 1 Leather-Stocking ? he may brag of his aim and 
his rifle, for he has the best of both, as I will own my- 
self, for sin’ he shot the pigeon I knock under to him; 
hut for a wrestle! why, I would take the creatur’ between 
my finger and thumb, and tie him in a bow-knot around 
my neck for a Barcelony. The man is seventy, and was 
never anything particular for strength.” 

“He’s a deceiving man,” said Hiram, “like all the 
hunters; he is stronger than he seems; besides, he has 
his rifle.” 

“That for his rifle! ” cried Billy: “he ’d no more hurt 
me with his rifle than he ’d fly. He is a harmless crea- 
tur’, and I must say that I think he has as good right to 
kill deer as any man on the Patent. It ’s his main sup- 
port, and this is a free country, where a man is privileged 
to follow any calling he likes.” 

“According to that doctrine,” said Jotham, “anybody 
may shoot a deer.” 


THE PIONEERS 


347 


“This is the man’s calling, I tell you,” returned Kirby, 
“and the law was never made for such as he.” 

“The law was made for all, ” observed Hiram, who be- 
gan to think that the danger was likely to fall to his own 
share, notwithstanding his management; “and the law is 
particular in noticing parjury.” 

“See here, Squire Doolittle,” said the reckless wood- 
chopper; “I don’t care the valie of a beetle-ring for you 
and your parjury too. But as I have come so far, I ’ll go 
down and have a talk with the old man, and maybe we ’ll 
fry a steak of the deer together.” 

“Well, if you can get in peaceably, so much the better,” 
said the magistrate. “To my notion, strife is very un- 
popular ; I prefar, at all times, clever conduct to an ugly 
temper. ” 

As the whole party moved at a great pace, they soon 
reached the hut, where Hiram thought it prudent to halt 
on the outside of the top of the fallen pine, which formed 
a chevaux-de-frise, to defend the approach to the fortress, 
on the side next the village. The delay was little relished 
by Kirby, who clapped his hands to his mouth, and gave 
a loud halloo that brought the dogs out of their kennel 
and, almost at the same instant, the scantily covered head 
of Natty from the door. 

“Lie down, old fool,” cried the hunter; “do you think 
there ’s more painters about you? ” 

“Ha! Leather - Stocking, I’ve an arrand with you,” 
cried Kirby; “here ’s the good people of the State have 
been writing you a small letter, and they ’ve hired me to 
ride post.” 

“ What would you have with me, Billy Kirby ? ” said 
Natty, stepping across his threshold, and raising his hand 
over his eyes to screen them from the rays of the setting 
sun, while he took a survey of his visitor. “I’ve no 
land to clear: and Heaven knows I would set out six trees 
afore I would cut down one. Down, Hector, I say; into 
your kennel with ye.” 

“ Would you, old boy ? ” roared Billy ; “ then so much 
the better for me. But I must do my arrand. Here ’s a 


348 


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letter for you, Leather- Stocking. If you can read it, it ’s 
all well, and if you can’t, here ’s Squire Doolittle at hand, 
to let you know what it means. It seems you mistook 
the twentieth of July for the first of August, that ’s all.” 

By this time Hatty had discovered the lank person of 
Hiram drawn up under the cover of a high stump; and 
all that was complacent in his manner instantly gave way 
to marked distrust and dissatisfaction. He placed his head 
within the door of his hut, and said a few words in an 
undertone, when he again appeared, and continued : — 

“I’ve nothing for ye; so away, afore the evil one 
tempts me to do you harm. I owe you no spite, Billy 
Kirby, and what for should you trouble an old man, who 
has done you no harm ? ” 

Kirby advanced through the top of the pine, to within 
a few feet of the hunter, where he seated himself on the 
end of a log with great composure, and began to examine 
the nose of Hector, with whom he was familiar, from their 
frequently meeting in the woods, where he sometimes fed 
the dog from his own basket of provisions. 

“You ’ve outshot me, and I ’m not ashamed to say it,” 
said the wood-chopper; “hut I don’t owe you a grudge 
for that, Hatty! though it seems that you’ve shot once 
too often, for the story goes that you ’ve killed a buck.” 

“I’ve fired but twice to-day, and both times at the 
painters,” returned the Leather- Stocking; “see, here are 
the scalps! I was just going in with them to the Judge’s 
to ask the bounty.” 

While Hatty was speaking, he tossed the ears to Kirby, 
who continued playing with them, with a careless air, — 
holding them to the dogs, and laughing at their move- 
ments when they scented the unusual game. 

But Hiram, emboldened by the advance of the deputed 
constable, now ventured to approach also, and took up the 
discourse with the air of authority that became his com- 
mission. His first measure was to read the warrant aloud, 
taking care to give due emphasis to the most material 
parts, and concluding with the name of the Judge in very 
audible and distinct tones. 


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349 


“Did Marmaduke Temple put his name to that hit of 
paper ? ” said Natty, shaking his head ; “ well, well, that 
man loves the new ways, and his betterments, and his 
lands, afore his own flesh and blood. But I won’t mis- 
trust the gal : she has an eye like a full-grown buck ! poor 
thing, she didn’t choose her father, and can’t help it. I 
know but little of the law, Mr. Doolittle; what is to he 
done, now you ’ve read your commission? ” 

“Oh, it’s nothing but form, Natty, ” said Hiram, en- 
deavoring to assume a friendly aspect. “Let ’s go in and 
talk the thing over in reason ; I dare to say that the money 
can be easily found, and I partly conclude, from what 
passed, that Judge Temple will pay it himself.” 

The old hunter had kept a keen eye on the movements 
of his three visitors, from the beginning, and had main- 
tained his position, just without the threshold of his cabin, 
with a determined manner, that showed he was not to be 
easily driven from his post. When Hiram drew nigher, 
as if expecting his proposition would be accepted, Natty 
lifted his hand and motioned for him to retreat. 

“Haven’t I told you more than once, not to tempt 
me?” he said. “I trouble no man; why can’t the law 
leave me to myself ? Go back — go hack, and tell your 
Judge that he may keep his bounty; but I won’t have his 
wasty ways brought into my hut.” 

This offer, however, instead of appeasing the curiosity of 
Hiram, seemed to inflame it the more ; while Kirby cried : 

“Well, that’s fair, Squire; he forgives the county his 
demand, and the county should forgive him the fine; it’s 
what I call an even trade, and should be concluded on the 
spot. I like quick dealings, and what ’s fair ’twixt man 
and man.” 

“I demand entrance into this house,” said Hiram, sum- 
moning all the dignity he could muster to his assistance, 
“in the name of the people; and by virtue of this war- 
rant, and of my office, and with this peace officer.” 

“Stand back, stand back, Squire, and don’t tempt me,” 
said the Leather-Stocking, motioning for him to retire, 
with great earnestness. 


350 


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“Stop us at your peril,” continued Hiram. “Billy! 
Jotham! close up — I want testimony.” 

Hiram had mistaken the mild but determined air of 
Hatty for submission, and had already put his foot on the 
threshold to enter, when he was seized unexpectedly by 
his shoulders, and hurled over the little bank towards the 
lake to the distance of twenty feet. The suddenness of 
the movement, and the unexpected display of strength on 
the part of Hatty, created a momentary astonishment in his 
invaders that silenced all noises; but at the next instant 
Billy Kirby gave vent to his mirth in peals of laughter 
that he seemed to heave up from his very soul. 

“Well done, old stub! ” he shouted: “the Squire knowed 
you better than I did. Come, come, here ’s a green spot; 
take it out like men, while Jotham and I see fair play.” 

“William Kirby, I order you to do your duty,” cried 
Hiram, from under the bank; “seize that man; I order 
you to seize him in the name of the people.” 

But the Leather-Stocking now assumed a more threaten- 
ing attitude; his rifle was in his hand, and its muzzle was 
directed towards the wood-chopper. 

“Stand off, I bid ye,” said Hatty; “you know my aim, 
Billy Kirby; I don’t crave your blood, but mine and 
your’n both shall turn this green grass red, afore you put 
foot into the hut.” 

While the affair appeared trifling, the wood-chopper 
seemed disposed to take sides with the weaker party; but 
when the firearms were introduced, his manner very sen- 
sibly changed. He raised his large frame from the log, 
and facing the hunter with an open front, he replied : — 

“I didn’t come here as your enemy, Leather-Stocking; 
but I don’t value the hollow piece of iron in your hand so 
much as a broken axe-helve ; so, Squire, say the word, and 
keep within the law, and we ’ll soon see who ’s the best 
man of the two.” 

But no magistrate was to be seen ! The instant the rifle 
was produced Hiram and Jotham vanished; and when the 
wood-chopper bent his eyes about him in surprise at re- 
ceiving no answer, he discovered their retreating figures 


THE PIONEERS 


351 


moving towards the village at a rate that sufficiently indi- 
cated that they had not only calculated the velocity of a 
rifle-bullet, hut also its probable range. 

“You’ve scared the creatur’s off,” said Kirby, with 
great contempt expressed on his broad features ; “ but you 
are not going to scare me ; so, Mr. Bumppo, down with 
your gun, or there ’ll be trouble ’twixt us.” 

Natty dropped his rifle, and replied : — 

“I wish you no harm, Billy Kirby; but I leave it to 
yourself whether an old man’s hut is to be run down by 
such varmint. I won’t deny the buck to you, Billy, and 
you may take the skin in, if you please, and show it as 
testimony. The bounty will pay the fine, and that ought 
to satisfy any man.” 

“’Twill, old boy, ’twill,” cried Kirby, every shade of 
displeasure vanishing from his open brow at the peace- 
offering; “throw out the hide, and that shall satisfy the 
law. ” 

Natty entered the hut, and soon reappeared, bringing 
with him the desired testimonial; and the wood-chopper 
departed, as thoroughly reconciled to the hunter as if no- 
thing had happened. As he paced along the margin of 
the lake he would burst into frequent fits of laughter, 
while he recollected the summersault of Hiram; and, on 
the whole, he thought the affair a very capital joke. 

Long before Billy reached the village, however, the 
news of his danger, and of Natty’s disrespect of the law, 
and of Hiram’s discomfiture, were in circulation. A good 
deal was said about sending for the Sheriff ; some hints 
were given about calling out the posse comitatus 1 to avenge 
the insulted laws ; and many of the citizens were collected, 
deliberating how to proceed. The arrival of Billy with 
the skin, by removing all grounds for a search, changed 
the complexion of things materially. Nothing now re- 
mained but to collect the fine, and assert the dignity of 
the people, — all of which, it was unanimously agreed, 
could be done as well on the succeeding Monday as on 

1 [Literally, “the power of the county,” a legal term for the body of 
men on whom the sheriff may call to aid him in executing the law.] 


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Saturday night — a time kept sacred by a large portion of 
the settlers. Accordingly, all further proceedings were 
suspended for six-and-thirty hours. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


And dar’st thou then 
To beard the lion in his den, 

The Douglas in his hall ? 

Walteb Scott : Marmion, VI. xiv. 


The commotion was just subsiding, and the inhabitants 
of the village had begun to disperse from the little groups 
they had formed, each retiring to his own home, and clos- 
ing his door after him with the grave air of a man who 
consulted public feeling in his exterior deportment, when 
Oliver Edwards, on his return from the dwelling of Mr. 
Grant, encountered the young lawyer who is known to 
the reader as Mr. Lippet. There was very little similar- 
ity in the manners or opinions of the two; but as they 
both belonged to the more intelligent class of a very small 
community, they were, of course, known to each other, and 
as their meeting was at a point where silence would have 
been rudeness, the following conversation was the result 
of their interview : — 

“A fine evening, Mr. Edwards,” commenced the law- 
yer, whose disinclination to the dialogue was, to say the 
least, very doubtful; “we want rain sadly; that’s the 
worst of this climate of ours, it ’s either a drought or a 
deluge. It ’s likely you ’ve been used to a more equal 
temperature ? ” 

“I am a native of this State, ” returned Edwards, coldly. 

“Well, I’ve often heard that point disputed; but it’s 
so easy to get a man naturalized, that it ’s of little conse- 
quence where he was born. I wonder what course the 
Judge means to take in this business of Natty Bumppo ! ” 

“ Of Natty Bumppo ! ” echoed Edwards ; “ to what do 
you allude, sir 1 ” 

“ Have n’t you heard ! ” exclaimed the other with a look 


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353 


of surprise, so naturally assumed as completely to deceive 
his auditor; “it may turn out an ugly business. It seems 
that the old man has been out in the hills, and has shot a 
buck this morning, and that, you know, is a criminal mat- 
ter in the eyes of Judge Temple. ” 

“ Oh, he has, has he ? ” said Edwards, averting his face 
to conceal the color that collected in his sunburnt cheek. 
“Well, if that be all, he must even pay the fine.” 

“It’s five pounds currency,” said the lawyer; “could 
Natty muster so much money at once ? ” 

“ Could he ! ” cried the youth. “ I am not rich, Mr. 
Lippet ; far from it — I am poor, and I have been hoard- 
ing my salary for a purpose that lies near my heart; but 
before that old man should lie one hour in a jail I would 
spend the last cent to prevent it. Besides, he has killed 
two panthers, and the bounty will discharge the fine many 
times over.” 

“Yes, yes,” said the lawyer, rubbing his hands to- 
gether with an expression of pleasure that had no artifice 
about it, “we shall make it out; I see plainly we shall 
make it out.” 

“Make what out, sir? I must beg an explanation.” 

“Why, killing the buck is but a small matter compared 
to what took place this afternoon,” continued Mr. Lippet, 
with a confidential and friendly air that insensibly won 
upon the youth, little as he liked the man. “It seems 
that a complaint was made of the fact, and a suspicion that 
there was venison in the hut was sworn to, all which is 
provided for in the statute, when Judge Temple granted 
a search-warrant ” — 

“A search-warrant!” echoed Edwards, in a voice of 
horror, and with a face that should have been again averted 
to conceal its paleness; “and how much did they discover? 
What did they see ? ” 

“They saw old Bumppo’s rifle; and that is a sight 
which will quiet most men’s curiosity in the* woods.” 

“ Did they ! did they ! ” shouted Edwards, bursting into 
a convulsive laugh ; “ so the old hero beat them back ! he 
beat them back ! did he ? ” 


354 


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The lawyer fastened his eyes in astonishment on the 
youth, hut as his wonder gave way to the thoughts that 
were commonly uppermost in his mind, he replied : — 

“It’s no laughing matter, let me tell you, sir; the 
forty dollars of bounty, and your six months of salary, will 
be much reduced before you can get the matter fairly set- 
tled. Assaulting a magistrate in the execution of his duty, 
and menacing a constable with firearms at the same time, 
is a pretty serious affair, and is punishable with both fine 
and imprisonment.” 

“Imprisonment!” repeated Oliver ; “ imprison the Lea- 
ther-Stocking ! no, no, sir; it would bring the old man to 
his grave. They shall never imprison the Leather-Stock- 
ing.” 

“Well, Mr. Edwards,” said Lippet, dropping all re- 
serve from his manner, “you are called a curious man; 
but if you can tell me how a jury is to be prevented from 
finding a verdict of guilty, if this case comes fairly before 
them, and the proof is clear, I shall acknowledge that you 
know more law than I do, who have had a license in my 
pocket for three years.” 

By this time the reason of Edwards was getting the as- 
cendency of his feelings, and as he began to see the real 
difficulties of the case, he listened more readily to the con- 
versation of the lawyer. The ungovernable emotion that 
escaped the youth, in the first moments of his surprise, 
entirely passed away; and although it was still evident 
that he continued to be much agitated by what he had 
heard, he succeeded in yielding forced attention to the 
advice which the other uttered. 

Notwithstanding the confused state of his mind, Oliver 
soon discovered that most of the expedients of the lawyer 
were grounded in cunning, and plans that required a time 
to execute them that neither suited his disposition nor his 
necessities. After, however, giving Mr. Lippet to under- 
stand that he retained him in the event of a trial, an assur- 
ance that at once satisfied the lawyer, they parted; one 
taking his course, with a deliberate tread, in the direction 
of the little building that had a wooden sign over its 


THE PIONEERS 


355 


door, with “Chester Lippet, Attorney at Law,” painted 
on it; and the other pacing over the ground with enor- 
mous strides towards the mansion-house. We shall take 
leave of the attorney for the present, and direct the atten- 
tion of the reader to his client. 

When Edwards entered the hall, whose enormous doors 
were opened to the passage of the air of a mild evening, 
he found Benjamin engaged in some of his domestic avoca- 
tions, and in a hurried voice inquired where Judge Tem- 
ple was to be found. 

“Why, the Judge has stept into his office, with that 
master carpenter, Mister Doolittle; hut Miss Lizzy is in 
that there parlor. I say, Master Oliver, we ’d like to 
have had a bad job of that panther, or painter’s work — 
some calls it one, and some calls it t’ other — but I know 
little of the beast, seeing that it is not of British growth. 
I said as much as that it was in the hills the last winter; 
for I heard it moaning on the lake shore one evening in 
the fall, when I was pulling down from the fishing point 
in the skiff. Had the animal come into open water, where 
a man could see where and how to work his vessel, I 
would have engaged the thing myself; but looking aloft 
among the trees is all the same to me as standing on the 
deck of one ship, and looking at another vessel’s tops. I 
never can tell one rope from another ” — 

“Well, well,” interrupted Edwards; “I must see Miss 
Temple. ” 

“And you shall see her, sir,” said the steward; “she ’s 
in this here room. Lord, Master Edwards, what a loss 
she ’d have been to the Judge ! Damme if I know where 
he would have gotten such another daughter; that is, full 
grown, d’ ye see. I say, sir, this Master Bumppo is a 
worthy man, and seems to have a handy way with him, 
with firearms and boathooks. I ’m his friend, Master Oli- 
ver, and he and you may both set me down as the same.” 

“We may want your friendship, my worthy fellow,” 
cried Edwards, squeezing his hand convulsively : “ we may 
want your friendship, in which case you shall know it.” 

Without waiting to hear the earnest reply that Benja- 


356 


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min meditated, the youth extricated himself from the vig- 
orous grasp of the steward, and entered the parlor. 

Elizabeth was alone, and still reclining on the sofa 
where we last left her. A hand, which exceeded all that 
the ingenuity of art could model in shape and color, veiled 
her eyes; and the maiden was sitting as if in deep com- 
munion with herself. Struck by the attitude and loveli- 
ness of the form that met his eye, the young man checked 
his impatience, and approached her with respect and cau- 
tion. 

“Miss Temple — Miss Temple,” he said, “I hope I do 
not intrude ; but I am anxious for an interview, if it be 
only for a moment.” 

Elizabeth raised her face, and exhibited her dark eyes 
swimming in moisture. 

“ Is it you, Edwards ? ” she said, with a sweetness in 
her voice, and a softness in her air, that she often used to 
her father, hut which, from its novelty to himself, thrilled 
on every nerve of the youth; “how left you our poor 
Louisa ? ” 

“She is with her father, happy and grateful,” said Oli- 
ver ; “ I never witnessed more feeling than she manifested, 
when I ventured to express my pleasure at her escape. 
Miss Temple, when I first heard of your horrid situation, 
my feelings were too powerful for utterance; and I did 
not properly find my tongue, until the walk to Mr. Grant’s 
had given me time to collect myself. I believe — I do 
believe I acquitted myself better there, for Miss Grant 
even wept at my silly speeches.” 

For a moment Elizabeth did not reply, hut again veiled 
her eyes with her hand. The feeling that caused the ac- 
tion, however, soon passed away, and, raising her face 
again to his gaze, she continued, with a smile : — 

“Your friend, the Leather-Stocking, has now become 
my friend, Edwards ; I have been thinking how I can best 
serve him; perhaps you, who know his habits and his 
wants so well, can tell me ” — 

“I can,” cried the youth, with an impetuosity that 
startled his companion, “I can, and may Heaven reward 


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357 


you for the wish. Natty has been so imprudent as to 
forget the law, and has this day killed a deer. Nay, I 
believe I must share in the crime and the penalty, for I 
was an accomplice throughout. A complaint has been 
made to your father and he has granted a search ” — 

“I know it all/’ interrupted Elizabeth; “I know it all. 
The forms of the law must he complied with, however; 
the search must be made, the deer found, and the penalty 
paid. But I must retort your own question. Have you 
lived so long in our family not to know us ? Look at me, 
Oliver Edwards. Do I appear like one who would permit 
the man that has saved her life to linger in a jail for so 
small a sum as this fine ? No, no, sir; my father is a judge, 
but he is a man and a Christian. It is all understood, and 
no harm shall follow.” 

“What a load of apprehension do your declarations re- 
move!” exclaimed Edwards. “He shall not be disturbed 
again ! your father will protect him ! I have your assur- 
ance, Miss Temple, that he will, and I must believe it.” 

“ You may have his own, Mr. Edwards, ” returned Eliza- 
beth, “for here he comes to make it.” 

But the appearance of Marmaduke, who entered the 
apartment, contradicted the flattering anticipations of his 
daughter. His brow was contracted, and his manner dis- 
turbed. Neither Elizabeth nor the youth spoke; but the 
Judge was allowed to pace once or twice across the room 
without interruption, when he cried : — 

“ Our plans are defeated, girl ; the obstinacy of the 
Leather-Stocking has brought down the indignation of the 
law on his head, and it is now out of my power to avert 
it.” 

“How? in what manner?” cried Elizabeth; “the fine 
is nothing ; surely ” — 

“I did not — I could not — anticipate that an old, a 
friendless man like him, would dare to oppose the officers 
of justice,” interrupted the Judge; “I supposed that he 
would submit to the search, when the fine could have been 
paid, and the law would have been appeased; but now he 
will have to meet its rigor.” 


358 


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“ And what must the punishment he, sir 1 99 asked Ed- 
wards, struggling to speak with firmness. 

Marmaduke turned quickly to the spot where the youth 
had withdrawn, and exclaimed : — 

“ You here ! I did not observe you. I know not what 
it will be, sir; it is not usual for a judge to decide, until 
he has heard the testimony, and the jury have convicted. 
Of one thing, however, you may be assured, Mr. Edwards; 
it shall be whatever the law demands, notwithstanding 
any momentary weakness I may have exhibited, because 
the luckless man has been of such eminent service to my 
daughter. ” 

“No one, I believe, doubts the sense of justice which 
Judge Temple entertains ! ” returned Edwards bitterly. 
“But let us converse calmly, sir. Will not the years, the 
habits, nay, the ignorance of my old friend, avail him any- 
thing against this charge 1 99 

“ Ought they 1 They may extenuate, but can they ac- 
quit ? Would any society be tolerable, young man, where 
the ministers of justice are to be opposed by men armed 
with rifles ? Is it for this that I have tamed the wilder- 
ness ? 99 

“Had you tamed the beasts that so lately threatened 
the life of Miss Temple, sir, your arguments would apply 
better . 99 

“Edwards!” exclaimed Elizabeth. 

“Peace, my child,” interrupted the father; “the youth 
is unjust; but I have not given him cause. I overlook 
thy remark, Oliver, for I know thee to be the friend of 
Natty, and zeal in his behalf has overcome thy discretion.” 

“Yes, he is my friend,” cried Edwards, “and I glory 
in the title. He is simple, unlettered, even ignorant: 
prejudiced, perhaps, though I feel that his opinion of the 
world is too true; but he has a heart, Judge Temple, that 
would atone for a thousand faults; he knows his friends, 
and never deserts them, even if it be his dog.” 

“This is a good character, Mr. Edwards,” returned 
Marmaduke, mildly; “but I have never been so fortu- 
nate as to secure his esteem, for to me he has been uni- 


THE PIONEERS 


359 


formly repulsive; yet I have endured it as an old man’s 
whim. However, when he appears before me, as his 
judge, he shall find that his former conduct shall not ag- 
gravate, any more than his recent services shall extenuate, 
his crime.” 

“ Crime ! ” echoed Edwards ; “ is it a crime to drive a 
prying miscreant from his door ? Crime ! Oh, no, sir ; if 
there be a criminal involved in this affair, it is not he.” 

“And who may it be, sir? ” asked Judge Temple, facing 
the agitated youth, his features settled to their usual com- 
posure. 

This appeal was more than the young man could bear. 
Hitherto he had been deeply agitated by his emotions; 
but now the volcano burst its boundaries. 

“ Who ! and this to me ! ” he cried ; “ ask your own 
conscience, Judge Temple. Walk to that door, sir, and 
look out upon the valley, that placid lake, and those dusky 
mountains, and say to your own heart, if heart you have, 
Whence came these riches, this vale, those hills, and why 
am I their owner? I should think, sir, that the ap- 
pearance of Mohegan and the Leather - Stocking, stalk- 
ing through the country, impoverished and forlorn, would 
wither your sight.” 

Marmaduke heard this burst of passion at first with 
deep amazement : but when the youth had ended, he beck- 
oned to his impatient daughter for silence and replied : — 

“ Oliver Edwards, thou forgettest in whose presence thou 
standest. I have heard, young man, that thou claimest 
descent from the native owners of the soil ; but surely thy 
education has been given thee to no effect, if it has not 
taught thee the validity of the claims that have transferred 
the title to the whites. These lands are mine by the very 
grants of thy ancestry, if thou art so descended; and I 
appeal to Heaven for a testimony of the uses I have put 
them to. After this language, we must separate. I have 
too long sheltered thee in my dwelling; but, the time has 
arrived when thou must quit it. Come to my office, and 
I will discharge the debt I owe thee. Neither shall thy 
present intemperate language mar thy future fortunes, if 


360 


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thou wilt hearken to the advice of one who is by many 
years thy senior. ” 

The ungovernable feeling that caused the violence of 
the youth had passed away, and he stood gazing after the 
retiring figure of Marmaduke, with a vacancy in his eye 
that denoted the absence of his mind. At length he re- 
collected himself, and, turning his head slowly around the 
apartment, he beheld Elizabeth, still seated on the sofa, 
but with her head dropped on her bosom and her face 
again concealed by her hands. 

“Miss Temple,” he said — all violence had left his 
manner — “ Miss Temple, I have forgotten myself — for- 
gotten you. You have heard what your father has de- 
creed, and this night I leave here. With you, at least, 
I would part in amity.” 

Elizabeth slowly raised her face, across which a momen- 
tary expression of sadness stole; but as she left her seat, 
her dark eyes lighted with their usual fire, her cheek 
flushed to burning, and her whole air seemed to belong to 
another nature. 

“I forgive you, Edwards, and my father will forgive 
you,” she said, when she reached the door. “You do 
not know us, but the time may come when your opinions 
shall change ” — 

“Of you! never!” interrupted the youth ; “I” — 

“I would speak, sir, and not listen. There is some- 
thing in this affair that I do not comprehend ; but tell the 
Leather-Stocking he has friends as well as judges in us. 
Do not let the old man experience unnecessary uneasiness 
at this rupture. It is impossible that you could increase 
his claims here; neither shall they be diminished by any- 
thing you have said. Mr. Edwards, I wish you happi- 
ness, and warmer friends.” 

The youth would have spoken, but she vanished from 
the door so rapidly, that when he reached the hall her 
form was nowhere to be seen. He paused a moment, in 
stupor, and then, rushing from the house, instead of follow- 
ing Marmaduke to his “office,” he took his way directly 
for the cabin of the hunters. 


THE PIONEERS 


361 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

Who measured earth, described the starry spheres, 

And traced the long records of lunar years. 

Alexander Pope : The Temple of Fame , 111, 112. 

Richard did not return from the exercise of his official 
duties until late in the evening of the following day. It 
had been one portion of his business to superintend the 
arrest of part of a gang of counterfeiters, that had, even 
at that early period, buried themselves in the woods to 
manufacture their base coin, which they afterwards circu- 
lated from one end of the Union to the other. The expe- 
dition had been completely successful, and about midnight 
the Sheriff entered the village, at the head of a posse of 
deputies and constables, in the centre of whom rode, pin- 
ioned, four of the malefactors. At the gate of the man- 
sion-house they separated, Mr. Jones directing his assist- 
ants to proceed with their charge to the county jail, while 
he pursued his own way up the graveled walk, with the 
kind of self-satisfaction that a man of his organization 
would feel, who had really, for once, done a very clever 
thing. 

“ Holla ! Aggy ! ” shouted the Sheriff, when he reached 
the door; “where are you, you black dog? will you keep 
me here in the dark all night? Holla! Aggy! Brave! 
Brave! hoy, hoy — where have you got to, Brave? Off 
his watch ! Everybody is asleep but myself ! poor I must 
keep my eyes open, that others may sleep in safety. 
Brave ! Brave ! Well, I will say this for the dog, lazy as 
he } s grown, that it is the first time I ever knew him let any 
one come to the door after dark, without having a smell 
to know whether it was an honest man or not. He could 
tell by his nose, almost as well as I could myself by look- 
ing at them. Holla! you Agamemnon! where are you? 
Oh, here comes the dog at last.” , 

By this time the Sheriff had dismounted, and observed 
a form, which he supposed to be that of Brave, slowly 
creeping out of the kennel; when, to his astonishment, it 


362 


THE PIONEERS 


reared itself on two legs instead of four, and he was able 
to distinguish by the starlight the curly head and dark 
visage of the negro. 

“Ha! what the devil are you doing there, you black 
rascal?” he cried; “is it not hot enough for your Guinea 
blood in the house this warm night, but you must drive 
out the poor dog and sleep in his straw ? 99 

By this time the boy was quite awake, and, with a 
blubbering whine, he attempted to reply to his master. 

“Oh! Masser Bichard! Masser Bichard! such a ting! 
such a ting ! I nebber tink a could ’appen ! nebber tink 
he die! Oh, Lor-a-gor! ain’t bury — keep ’em till Masser 
Bichard get back — got a grabe dug ” — 

Here the feelings of the negro completely got the mas- 
tery, and instead of making any intelligible explanation of 
the causes of his grief, he blubbered aloud. 

“ Eh ! what ! buried ! grave ! dead ! ” exclaimed Bich- 
ard, with a tremor in his voice; “nothing serious? No- 
thing has happened to Benjamin, I hope! I know he has 
been bilious ; but I gave him 99 — 

“Oh! worser ’an dat! worser ’an dat!” sobbed the ne- 
gro. “Oh, de Lor! Miss Lizzy an’ Miss Grant — walk — 
mountain — poor Bravy ! — kill a lady — painter. Oh, 
Lor, Lor ! — Natty Bumppo — tare he troat open — come 
a see, Masser Bichard — here he be — here he be. ” 

As all this was perfectly inexplicable to the Sheriff, he 
was very glad to wait patiently until the black brought a 
lantern from the kitchen, when he followed Aggy to the 
kennel, where he beheld poor Brave, indeed, lying in his 
blood, stiff and cold, but decently covered with the great- 
coat of the negro. He was on the point of demanding an 
explanation; but the grief of the black, who had fallen 
asleep on his voluntary watch, having burst out afresh on 
his waking, utterly disqualified the lad from giving one. 
Luckily, at this moment the principal door of the house 
opened, and the coarse features of Benjamin were thrust 
over the threshold, with a candle elevated above them, 
shedding its dim rays around in such a manner as to ex- 
hibit the lights and shadows of his countenance. Bichard 


THE PIONEERS 


363 


threw his bridle to the black, and bidding him look to the 
horse, he entered the hall. 

“What is the meaning of the dead dog?” he cried. 
“ Where is Miss Temple ? ” 

Benjamin made one of his square gestures, with the 
thumb of his left hand pointing over his right shoulder, 
as he answered : — 

“Turned in.” 

“Judge Temple — where is he ? ” 

“In his berth.” 

“But explain; why is Brave dead? and what is the 
cause of Aggy’s grief? ” 

“Why, it ’s all down, Squire,” said Benjamin, pointing 
to a slate that lay on the table, by the side of a mug of 
toddy, a short pipe, in which the tobacco was yet burning, 
and a prayer-book. 

Among the other pursuits of Richard, he had a passion 
to keep a register of all passing events; and his diary, 
which was written in the manner of a journal, or log-book, 
embraced not only such circumstances as affected himself, 
but observations on the weather, and all the occurrences 
of the family and frequently of the village. Since his 
appointment to the office of sheriff, and his consequent 
absences from home, he had employed Benjamin to make 
memoranda, on a slate, of whatever might be thought 
worth remembering, which, on his return, were regularly 
transferred to the journal, with proper notations of the 
time, manner, and other little particulars. There was, to 
be sure, one material objection to the clerkship of Benja- 
min, which the ingenuity of no one but Richard could 
have overcome. The steward read nothing but his prayer- 
book, and that only in particular parts, and by the aid of 
a good deal of spelling, and some misnomers ; but he could 
not form a single letter with a pen. This would have 
been an insuperable bar to journalizing, with most men; 
but Richard invented a kind of hieroglyphic&l character, 
which was intended to note all the ordinary occurrences 
of the day, such as how the wind blew, whether the sun 
shone, or whether it rained, the hours, etc. ; and for the 


364 


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extraordinary, after giving certain elementary lectures on 
the subject, the Sheriff was obliged to trust to the inge- 
nuity of the major-domo. The reader will at once per- 
ceive that it was to this chronicle that Benjamin pointed, 
instead of directly answering the Sheriff’s interrogatory. 

When Mr. Jones had drunk a glass of toddy, he brought 
forth from its secret place his proper journal, and, seat- 
ing himself by the table, he prepared to transfer the con- 
tents of the slate to the paper, at the same time that he 
appeased his curiosity. Benjamin laid one hand on the 
hack of the Sheriff’s chair in a familiar manner, while 
he kept the other at liberty, to make use of a forefinger, 
that was bent like some of his own characters, as an index 
to point out his meaning. 

The first thing referred to by the Sheriff was the dia- 
gram of a compass, cut in one corner of the slate for per- 
manent use. The cardinal points were plainly marked 
on it, and all the usual divisions were indicated in such a 
manner that no man who ever steered a ship could mis- 
take them. 

“Oh! ” said the Sheriff, settling himself down comforta- 
bly in his chair, “you’d the wind southeast, I see, all 
last night ; I thought it would have blown up rain. ” 

“Devil the drop, sir,” said Benjamin; “I believe that 
the scuttle-butt up aloft is emptied, for there hasn’t so 
much water fell in the country, for the last three weeks, 
as would float Indian John’s canoe, and that draws just 
one inch nothing, light.” 

“Well, but didn’t the wind change here this morning? 
there was a change where I was.” 

“To be sure it did, Squire; and haven’t I logged it as 
a shift of wind ? ” 

“I don’t see where, Benjamin” — 

“Don’t see!” interrupted the steward, a little crustily; 
“ain’t there a mark agin east-and-by-nothe-half-nothe, 
with summ’at like a rising sun at the end of it, to show 
’t was in the morning watch? ” 

“Yes, yes, that is very legible ; but where is the change 
noted ? ” 


THE PIONEERS 


365 


“Where! why doesn’t it see this here teakettle, with 
a mark run from the spout straight, or mayhap a little 
crooked or so, into west-and-by-southe-half-southe ? now 
I call this a shift of wind, Squire. Well, do you see this 
here boar’s head that you made for me, alongside of the 
compass ” — 

“ Aye, aye — Boreas — I see. Why, you ’ve drawn lines 
from its mouth, extending from one of your marks to the 
other. ” 

“It’s no fault of mine, Squire Dickens! ’t is your 

d d climate. The wind has been at all them there 

marks this very day and that ’s all round the compass, 
except a little matter of an Irishman’s hurricane at a 
meridium, which you ’ll find marked right up and down. 
Now, I ’ve known a sou’wester blow for three weeks, in 
the channel, with a clean drizzle, in which you might 
wash your face and hands, without the trouble of hauling 
in water from alongside.” 

“Very well, Benjamin,” said the Sheriff, writing in his 
journal; “I believe I have caught the idea. Oh! here ’s 
a cloud over the rising sun; so you had it hazy in the 
morning 1 ” 

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Benjamin. 

“Ah! it’s Sunday, and here are the marks for the 
length of the sermon — one, two, three, four : what ! did 
Mr. Grant preach forty minutes ? ” 

“Aye, summ’at like it; it was a good half-hour by my 
own glass, and then there was the time lost in turning it, 
and some little allowance for leeway in not being over 
smart about it.” 

“Benjamin, this is as long as a Presbyterian; you never 
could have been ten minutes in turning the glass ! ” 

“ Why, do you see, Squire, the parson was very solemn, 
and I just closed my eyes in order to think the better with 
myself, just the same as you ’d put in the dead-lights to 
make all snug, and when I opened them agin I found the 
congregation were getting under way for home, so I calcu- 
lated the ten minutes would cover the leeway after the 
glass was out. It was only some such matter as a cat’s 
nap. ” 


366 


THE PIONEERS 


“Oh, ho! Master Benjamin, yon were asleep, were you? 
but I ’ll set down no such slander against an orthodox 
divine.” Richard wrote twenty-nine minutes in his jour- 
nal, and continued: “Why, what ’s this you ’ve got oppo- 
site ten o’clock a. m. ? A full moon! had you a moon 
visible by day ? I have heard of such portents before now, 
but — eh! what ’s this alongside of it? an hour-glass?” 

“That!” said Benjamin, looking coolly over the Sher- 
iff’s shoulder, and rolling the tobacco about in his mouth 
with a jocular air; “why, that’s a small matter of my 
own. It ’s no moon, Squire, but only Betty Hollister’s 
face ; for, d’ ye see, sir, hearing all the same as if she had 
got up a new cargo of Jamaiky from the river, I called in 
as I was going to the church this morning — ten a. m. 
was it? — just the time — and tried a glass; and so I 
logged it, to put me in mind of calling to pay her like an 
honest man.” 

“That was it, was it? ” said the Sheriff, with some dis- 
pleasure at this innovation on his memoranda; “and could 
you not make a better glass than this ? it looks like a 
death’s head and an hour-glass.” 

“Why, as I liked the stuff, Squire,” returned the stew- 
ard, “ I turned in, homeward bound, and took t’ other 
glass, which I set down at the bottom of the first, and 
that gives the thing the shape it has. But as I was there 
again to-night, and paid for the three at once, your honor 
may as well run the' sponge over the whole business.” 

“I will buy you a slate for your own affairs, Benja- 
min,” said the Sheriff; “I don’t like to have the journal 
marked over in this manner.” 

“You needn’t — you need n’t, Squire; for seeing that 
I was likely to trade often with the woman while this 
barrel lasted, I ’ve opened a fair account with Betty, and 
she keeps her marks on the back of her bar door and I 
keeps the tally on this here bit of a stick.” 

As Benjamin concluded he produced a piece of wood, 
on which five very large, honest notches were apparent. 
The Sheriff cast his eyes on this new ledger for a moment, 
and continued : — 


THE PIONEERS 


367 


“ What have we here ! Saturday, two p. m. — why, 
here’s a whole family piece: two wine-glasses upside 
down ! ” 

“That ’s two women; the one this-a-way is Miss Lizzy, 
and t’ other is the parson’s young ’un.” 

“Cousin Bess and Miss Grant!” exclaimed the Sheriff 
in amazement; “what have they to do with my journal? ” 

“They ’d enough to do to get out of the jaws of that 
there painter, or panther,” said the immovable steward. 
“This here thingumy, Squire, that maybe looks summ’at 
like a rat, is the beast, d’ye see; and this here t’other 
thing, keel uppermost, is poor old Brave, who died nobly, 
all the same as an admiral fighting for his king and coun- 
try ; and that there ” — 

“Scarecrow,” interrupted Bichard. 

“Aye, mayhap it do look a little wild or so,” continued 
the steward: “but to my judgment, Squire, it’s the best 
image I ’ve made, seeing it ’s most like the man himself; 
well, that ’s Natty Bumppo, who shot this here painter 
that killed that there dog, who would have eaten or done 
worse to them here young ladies.” 

“ And what the devil does all this mean ? ” cried Bich- 
ard, impatiently. 

“Mean! ” echoed Benjamin; “it is as true as the Boad- 
ishey’s log- hook ” — 

He was interrupted by the Sheriff, who put a few direct 
questions to him, that obtained more intelligible answers, 
by which means he became possessed of a tolerably cor- 
rect idea of the truth. When the wonder, and, we must 
do Bichard the justice to say, the feelings also, that were 
created by this narrative had in some degree subsided, the 
Sheriff turned his eyes again on his journal, where more 
inexplicable hieroglyphics met his view. 

“ What have we here ! ” he cried ; “ two men boxing ! 
has there been a breach of the peace ? ah, that ’s the way, 
the moment my hack is turned ” — 

“That ’s the Judge and young Master Edwards,” inter- 
rupted the steward, very cavalierly. 

“How! ’Duke fighting with Oliver ! what the devil has 


368 


THE PIONEERS 


got into you all ? more things have happened within the 
last thirty-six hours than in the preceding six months.” 

“Yes, it’s so indeed, Squire,” returned the steward; 
“I ’ve known a smart chase, and a fight at the tail of it, 
where less has been logged than I ’ve got on that there 
slate. Howsomnever, they did n’t come to facers — only 
passed a little jaw fore and aft.” 

“Explain ! explain! ” cried Richard: “it was about the 
mines, ha! aye, aye, I see it; here is a man with a pick 
on his shoulder. So you heard it all, Benjamin 1 ” 

“ Why, yes, it was about their minds, I believe, Squire, ” 
returned the steward; “and by what I can learn, they 
spoke them pretty plainly to one another. Indeed, I may 
say that I overheard a small matter of it myself, seeing 
that the windows was open, and I hard by. But this 
here is no pick, but an anchor on a man’s shoulder; and 
here ’s the other fluke down his back, maybe a little too 
close, which signifies that the lad has got under way and 
left his moorings.” 

“ Has Edwards left the house ? ” 

“He has.” 

Richard pursued this advantage ; and, after a long and 
close examination, he succeeded in getting out of Benjamin 
all that he knew, not only concerning the misunderstand- 
ing, but of the attempt to search the hut, and Hiram’s 
discomfiture. The Sheriff was no sooner possessed of these 
facts, which Benjamin related with all possible tenderness 
to the Leather- Stocking, than, snatching up his hat, and 
bidding the astonished steward secure the doors and go to 
his bed, he left the house. 

For at least five minutes after Richard disappeared, Ben- 
jamin stood with his arms akimbo, and his eyes fastened 
on the door; when, having collected his astonished facul- 
ties, he prepared to execute the orders he had received. 

It has been already said that the “court of common 
pleas and general sessions of the peace,” or, as it is com- 
monly called, the “county court,” over which Judge Tem- 
ple presided, held one of its stated sessions on the follow- 
ing morning. The attendants of Richard were officers who 


THE PIONEERS 


369 


had come to the village, as much to discharge their usual 
duties at this court, as to escort the prisoners; and the 
Sheriff knew their habits too well not to feel confident he 
should find most, if not all of them, in the public room 
of the jail discussing the qualities of the keeper’s liquors. 
Accordingly he held his way through the silent streets of 
the village, directly to the small and insecure building that 
contained all the unfortunate debtors, and some of the 
criminals of the county, and where justice was adminis- 
tered to such unwary applicants as were so silly as to throw 
away two dollars in order to obtain one from their neigh- 
bors. The arrival of four malefactors in the custody of a 
dozen officers was an event, at that day, in Templeton; 
and when the Sheriff reached the jail, he found every in- 
dication that his subordinates intended to make a night 
of it. 

The nod of the Sheriff brought two of his deputies to 
the door, who in their turn drew off six or seven of the 
constables. With this force Richard led the way through 
the village, towards the bank of the lake, undisturbed by 
any noise except the barking of one or two curs, who were 
alarmed by the measured tread of the party, and by the 
low murmurs that ran through their own numbers, as a 
few cautious questions and answers were exchanged, rela- 
tive to the object of their expedition. When they had 
crossed the little bridge of hewn logs that was thrown over 
the Susquehanna, they left the highway, and struck into 
that field which had been the scene of the victory over 
the pigeons. From this they followed their leader into 
the low bushes of pines and chestnuts which had sprung 
up along the shores of the lake, where the plough had not 
succeeded the fall of the trees, and soon entered the for- 
est itself. Here Richard paused, and collected his troop 
around him. 

“I have required your assistance, my friende,” he said, 
in a low voice, “in order to arrest Nathaniel Bumppo, 
commonly called the Leather- Stocking. He has assaulted 
a magistrate, and resisted the execution of a search-warrant, 
by threatening the life of a constable with his rifle. In 


370 


THE PIONEERS 


short, my friends, he has set an example of rebellion to 
the laws, and has become a kind of outlaw. He is sus- 
pected of other misdemeanors and offenses against private 
rights; and I have this night taken on myself, by the vir- 
tue of my office of Sheriff, to arrest the said Bumppo, and 
bring him to the county jail, that he may be present and 
forthcoming to answer to these heavy charges before the 
court to-morrow morning. In executing this duty, friends 
and fellow-citizens, you are to use courage and discre- 
tion. Courage, that you may not be daunted by any law- 
less attempts that this man may make, with his rifle and 
his dogs, to oppose you; and discretion, which here means 
caution and prudence, that he may not escape from this 
sudden attack; and for other good reasons that I need not 
mention. You will form yourselves in a complete circle 
around his hut, and at the word ‘ Advance, ’ called aloud 
by me, you will rush forward, and, without giving the 
criminal time for deliberation, enter his dwelling by force, 
and make him your prisoner. Spread yourselves for this 
purpose, while I shall descend to the shore with a deputy, 
to take charge of that point; and all communications must 
be made directly to me, under the bank in front of the 
hut, where I shall station myself, and remain in order to 
receive them.” 

This speech, which Richard had been studying during 
his walk, had the effect that all similar performances pro- 
duce, of bringing the dangers of the expedition immedi- 
ately before the eyes of his forces. The men divided, 
some plunging deeper into the forest, in order to gain 
their stations without giving an alarm, and others continu- 
ing to advance, at a gait that would allow the whole party 
to go in order: but all devising the plan to repulse the 
attack of a dog or to escape a rifle bullet. It was a mo- 
ment of dread expectation and interest. 

When the Sheriff thought time enough had elapsed for 
the different divisions of his force to arrive at their sta- 
tions, he raised his voice in the silence of the forest, and 
shouted the watchword. The sounds played among the 
arched branches of the trees in hollow cadences; but when 


THE PIONEERS 


371 


the last sinking tone was lost on the ear, in place of the 
expected howls of the dogs, no other noises were returned 
but the crackling of torn branches and dried sticks, as they 
yielded before the advancing steps of the officers. Even 
this soon ceased, as if by a common consent, when the 
curiosity and impatience of the Sheriff getting the com- 
plete ascendency over discretion, he rushed up the bank, 
and in a moment stood on the little piece of cleared ground 
in front of the spot where Natty had so long lived. To 
his amazement, in place of the hut he saw only its smoul- 
dering ruins. 

The party gradually drew together about the heap of 
ashes and the ends of smoking logs; while a dim flame in 
the centre of the ruin, which still found fuel to feed its 
lingering life, threw its pale light, flickering with the pass- 
ing currents of the air, around the circle, — now showing a 
face with eyes fixed in astonishment, and then glancing to 
another countenance, leaving the former shaded in the ob- 
scurity of night. Not a voice was raised in inquiry, nor an 
exclamation made in astonishment. The transition from 
excitement to disappointment was too powerful for speech : 
and even Richard lost the use of an organ that was seldom 
known to fail him. 

The whole group were yet in the fullness of their sur- 
prise, when a tall form stalked from the gloom into the 
circle, treading down the hot ashes and dying embers with 
callous feet; and standing over the light, lifted his cap, 
and exposed the bare head and weather - beaten features 
of the Leather-Stocking. For a moment he gazed at the 
dusky figures who surrounded him, more in sorrow than 
in anger, before he spoke. 

“ What would ye with an old and helpless man ? ” he 
said. “You’ve driven God’s creatur’s from the wilder- 
ness, where his providence had put them for his own plea- 
sure; and you ’ve brought in the troubles and diviltries of 
the law, where no man was ever known to disturb another. 
You have driven me, that have lived forty long years of 
my appointed time in this very spot, from my home and 
the shelter of my head, lest you should put your wicked 


372 


THE PIONEERS 


feet and wasty ways in my cabin. You ’ve driven me to 
burn these logs, under which I ’ve eaten and drunk — the 
first of Heaven’s gifts, and the other of the pure springs 
— for the half of a hundred years; and to mourn the 
ashes under my feet, as a man would weep and mourn for 
the children of his body. You ’ve rankled the heart of 
an old man, that has never harmed you or your’n, with 
bitter feelings towards his kind, at a time when his 
thoughts should be on a better world; and you ’ve driven 
him to wish that the beasts of the forest, who never feast 
on the blood of their own families, was his kindred and 
race ; and now, when he has come to see the last brand 
of his hut, before it is melted into ashes, you follow him 
up, at midnight, like hungry hounds on the track of a 
worn-out and dying deer. What more would ye have? 
for I am here — one too many. I come to mourn, not to 
fight; and, if it is God’s pleasure, work your will on me.” 

When the man ended, he stood, with the light glimmer- 
ing around his thinly covered head, looking earnestly at 
the group, which receded from the pile with an involun- 
tary movement, without the reach of the quivering rays — 
leaving a free passage for his retreat into the bushes, where 
pursuit, in the dark, would have been fruitless. Natty 
seemed not to regard this advantage ; but stood facing each 
individual in the circle in succession, as if to see who 
would be the first to arrest him. After a pause of a few 
moments, Richard began to rally his confused faculties; 
and advancing, apologized for his duty, and made him 
his prisoner. The party now collected; and, preceded by 
the Sheriff, with Natty in their centre, they took their 
way towards the village. 

During the walk, divers questions were put to the pris- 
oner, concerning his reasons for burning the hut, and 
whither Mohegan had retreated ; but to all of them he ob- 
served a profound silence, until, fatigued with their previ- 
ous duties and the lateness of the hour, the Sheriff and his 
followers reached the village and dispersed to their several 
places of rest, after turning the key of a jail on the aged 
and apparently friendless Leather-Stocking. 


THE PIONEERS 


373 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Fetch here the stocks, ho ! 

You stubborn, ancient knave, you reverend braggart, 

We’ll teach you. 

Shakespeare : King Lear , II. ii. 


The long days and early sun of July allowed time for a 
gathering of the interested, before the little bell of the 
academy announced that the appointed hour had arrived 
for administering right to the wronged, and punishment 
to the guilty. Ever since the dawn of day, the highways 
and woodpaths that, issuing from the forests, and winding 
along the sides of the mountains,' centred in Templeton, 
had been thronged with equestrians and footmen, hound 
to the haven of justice. There was to he seen a well-clad 
yeoman, mounted on a sleek, switch-tailed steed, ambling 
along the highway, with his red face elevated in a manner 
that said, “I have paid for my land and fear no man;” 
while his bosom was swelling with the pride of being one 
of the grand inquest of the county. At his side rode a 
companion, his equal in independence of feeling, perhaps, 
but his inferior in thrift, as in property and consideration. 
This was a professed dealer in lawsuits, — a man whose 
name appeared in every calendar; whose substance, gained 
in the multifarious expedients of a settler’s changeable 
habits, was wasted in feeding the harpies of the courts. 
He was endeavoring to impress the mind of the grand 
juror with the merits of a cause now at issue. Along 
with these was a pedestrian, who, having thrown a rifle 
frock over his shirt, and placed his best wool hat above 
his sunburnt visage, had issued from his retreat in the 
woods by a footpath, and was striving to keep company 
with the others, on his way to hear and to decide the dis- 
putes of his neighbors, as a petit juror. Eifty similar 
little knots of countrymen might have been seen, on that 
morning, journeying towards the shire-town on the same 
errand. 

By ten o’clock the streets of the village were filled with 


374 


THE PIONEERS 


busy faces; some talking of their private concerns, some 
listening to a popular expounder of political creeds; and 
others gaping in at the open stores, admiring the finery, 
or examining scythes, axes, and such other manufactures 
as attracted their curiosity or excited their admiration. 
A few women were in the crowd, most carrying infants, 
and followed, at a lounging, listless gait, by their rustic 
lords and masters. There was one young couple, in whom 
connubial love was yet fresh, walking at a respectful dis- 
tance from each other; while the swain directed the timid 
steps of his bride by a gallant offering of a thumb! 

At the first stroke of the bell, Richard issued from the 
door of the “Bold Dragoon,” flourishing a sheathed sword, 
that he was fond of saying his ancestors had carried in one 
of Cromwell’s victories, and crying, in an authoritative 
tone, to “ Clear the way for the court ! ” The order was 
obeyed promptly, though not servilely, the members of the 
crowd nodding familiarly to the members of the procession 
as it passed. A party of constables with their staves fol- 
lowed the Sheriff, preceding Marmaduke, and four plain, 
grave-looking yeomen, who were his associates on the 
bench. There was nothing to distinguish these subordi- 
nate judges from the better part of the spectators, except 
gravity, which they affected a little more than common, 
and that one of their number was attired in an old-fash- 
ioned military coat, with skirts that reached no lower than 
the middle of his thighs, and bearing two little silver 
epaulettes, not half so big as a modern pair of shoulder- 
knots. This gentleman was a colonel of the militia, in 
attendance on a court-martial, who found leisure to steal a 
moment from his military to attend to his civil jurisdiction; 
but this incongruity excited neither notice nor comment. 
Three or four clean-shaved lawyers followed, as meekly as 
if they were lambs going to the slaughter. One or two of 
their number had contrived to obtain an air of scholastic 
gravity by wearing spectacles. The rear was brought up 
by another posse of constables, and the mob followed the 
whole into the room where the court held its sittings. 

The edifice was composed of a basement of squared logs, 




THE PIONEERS 


375 


perforated here and there with small grated windows, 
through which a few wistful faces were gazing at the crowd 
without. Among the captives were the guilty, downcast 
countenances of the counterfeiters, and the simple but 
honest features of the Leather- Stocking. The dungeons 
were to be distinguished, externally, from the debtors’ 
apartments only by the size of the apertures, the thickness 
of the grates, and by the heads of the spikes that were 
driven into the logs as a protection against the illegal use 
of edge-tools. The upper story was of frame-work, regu- 
larly covered with boards, and contained one room decently 
fitted up for the purposes of justice. A bench, raised on 
a narrow platform to the height of a man above the floor, 
and protected in front by a light railing, ran along one of 
its sides. In the centre was a seat, furnished with rude 
arms, that was always filled by the presiding judge. In 
front, on a level with the floor of the room, was a large 
table covered with green baize and surrounded by benches ; 
and at either of its ends were rows of seats, rising one 
over the other, for jury boxes. Each of these divisions 
was surrounded by a railing. The remainder of the room 
was an open square, appropriated to the spectators. 

When the judges were seated, the lawyers had taken 
possession of the table, and the noise of moving feet had 
ceased in the area, the proclamations were made in the 
usual form, the jurors were sworn, the charge was given, 
and the court proceeded to hear the business before them. 

We shall not detain the reader with a description of 
the captious discussions that occupied the court for the 
first two hours. Judge Temple had impressed on the 
jury, in his charge, the necessity for dispatch on their 
part, recommending to their notice, from motives of hu- 
manity, the prisoners in the jail, as the first objects of 
their attention. Accordingly, after the period we have 
mentioned had elapsed, the cry of the officer to “ Clear the 
way for the grand jury,” announced the entrance of that 
body. The usual forms were observed, when the foreman 
handed up to the bench two bills, on both of which the 
Judge observed, at the first glance of his eye, the name 


376 


THE PIONEERS 


of Nathaniel Bumppo. It was a leisure moment with the 
court ; some low whispering passed between the bench and 
the Sheritf, who gave a signal to his officers, and in a very 
few minutes the silence that prevailed was interrupted by 
a general movement in the outer crowd; when presently 
the Leather-Stocking made his appearance, ushered into 
the criminal’s bar under the custody of two constables. 
The hum ceased, the people closed into the open space 
again, and the silence soon became so deep that the hard 
breathing of the prisoner was audible. 

Natty was dressed in his buckskin garments, without 
his coat, in place of which he wore only a shirt of coarse 
linen check, fastened at his throat by the sinew of a deer, 
leaving his red neck and weather-beaten face exposed and 
hare. It was the first time that he had ever crossed the 
threshold of a court of justice, and curiosity seemed to 
he strongly blended with his personal feelings. He raised 
his eyes to the bench, thence to the jury-boxes, the bar, 
and the crowd without, meeting everywhere looks fastened 
on himself. After surveying his own person, as searching 
the cause of this unusual attraction, he once more turned 
his face around the assemblage, and opened his mouth in 
one of his silent and remarkable laughs. 

“Prisoner, remove your cap,” said Judge Temple. 

The order was either unheard or unheeded. 

“Nathaniel Bumppo, be uncovered,” repeated the 
Judge. 

Natty started at the sound of his name, and raising his 
face earnestly towards the bench, he said : — 

“ Anan ! ” 

Mr. Lippet arose from his seat at the table, and whis- 
pered in the ear of the prisoner; when Natty gave him a 
nod of assent, and took the deerskin covering from his 
head. 

“Mr. District Attorney,” said the Judge, “the prisoner 
is ready ; we wait for the indictment. ” 

The duties of public prosecutor were discharged by 
Dirck Van der School, who adjusted his spectacles, cast 
a cautious look around him at his brethren of the bar. 


THE PIONEERS 


377 


which he ended by throwing his head aside so as to catch 
one glance over the glasses, when he proceeded to read the 
hill aloud. It was the usual charge for an assault and 
battery on the person of Hiram Doolittle, and was couched 
in the ancient language of such instruments, especial care 
having been taken by the scribe not to omit the name of 
a single offensive weapon known to the law. When he 
had done, Mr. Van der School removed his spectacles, 
which he closed and placed in his pocket, seemingly for 
the pleasure of again opening and replacing them on his 
nose. After this evolution was repeated once or twice, he 
handed the bill over to Mr. Lippet, with a cavalier air, 
that said as much as “Pick a hole in that if you can.” 

Natty listened to the charge with great attention, lean- 
ing forward towards the reader with an earnestness that 
denoted his interest; and when it was ended, he raised 
his tall body to the utmost and drew a long sigh. All 
eyes were turned to the prisoner, whose voice was vainly 
expected to break the stillness of the room. 

“ You have heard the presentment that the grand jury 
have made, Nathaniel Bumppo,” said the Judge; “what 
do you plead to the charge ? ” 

The old man dropped his head for a moment in a re- 
flecting attitude, and then raising it, he laughed before he 
answered : — 

“That I handled the man a little rough or so is not to 
be denied; hut that there was occasion to make use of all 
the things that the gentleman has spoken of, is downright 
untrue. I am not much of a wrestler, seeing that I ’m get- 
ting old ; hut I was out among the Scotch-Irishers — let 
me see — it must have been as long ago as the first of the 
old war.” 

“Mr. Lippet, if you are retained for the prisoner,” in- 
terrupted Judge Temple, “instruct your client how to 
plead; if not, the court will assign him counsel.” 

Aroused from studying the indictment by this appeal, 
the attorney got up, and after a short dialogue with the 
hunter in a low voice, he informed the court that they 
were ready to proceed. 


378 


THE PIONEERS 


“ Do you plead guilty or not guilty 1 ” said the Judge. 

“I may say not guilty with a clean conscience, ” re- 
turned Natty; “for there ’sno guilt in doing what ’s right; 
and I ’d rather died on the spot than had him put foot 
in the hut at that moment. ” 

Richard started at this declaration, and bent his eyes 
significantly on Hiram, who returned the look with a 
slight movement of his eyebrows. 

“Proceed to open the cause, Mr. District Attorney,” 
continued the Judge. “Mr. Clerk, enter the plea of not 
guilty.” 

After a short opening address from Mr. Van der School, 
Hiram was summoned to the bar to give his testimony. 
It was delivered to the letter, perhaps, but with all that 
moral coloring which can be conveyed under such expres- 
sions as “thinking no harm,” “feeling it my bounden 
duty as a magistrate, ” and “ seeing that the constable was 
back’ard in the business.” When he had done, and the 
district attorney declined putting any further interrogato- 
ries, Mr. Lippet arose, with an air of keen investigation, 
and asked the following questions : — 

“Are you a constable of this county, sir?” 

“No, sir,” said Hiram, “I’m only a justice-peace.” 

“I ask you, Mr. Doolittle, in the face of this court, 
putting it to your conscience and your knowledge of the 
law, whether you had any right to enter that man’s dwell- 
ing ? ” 

“ Hem ! ” said Hiram, undergoing a violent struggle be- 
tween his desire for vengeance and his love of legal fame; 
“I do suppose — that in — that is — strict law — that 
supposing — maybe I had n’t a real — lawful right; hut as 
the case was — and Billy was so back’ard — I thought I 
might come for’ard in the business.” 

“I ask you again, sir,” continued the lawyer, following 
up his success, “whether this old, this friendless old man, 
did or did not repeatedly forbid your entrance ? ” 

“Why, I must say,” said Hiram, “that he was consid- 
erable cross-grained : not what I call clever, seeing that it 
was only one neighbor wanting to go into the house of 
another. ” 






THE PIONEERS 


379 


“ Oh ! then you own it was only meant for a neighborly 
visit on your part, and without the sanction of law. Re- 
member, gentlemen, the words of the witness, ‘ one neigh- 
bor wanting to enter the house of another. ’ Now, sir, I 
ask you if Nathaniel Bumppo did not again and again 
order you not to enter ? ” 

“There was some words passed between us,” said Hi- 
ram, “but I read the warrant to him aloud.” 

“ I repeat my question ; did he tell you not to enter his 
habitation 1 ” 

“There was a good deal passed betwixt us — but I ’ve 
the warrant in my pocket: maybe the court would wish 
to see it ? ” 

“Witness,” said Judge Temple, “answer the question 
directly ; did or did not the prisoner forbid your entering 
his hut ? ” 

“ Why, I some think ” — 

“ Answer without equivocation,” continued the Judge 
sternly. 

“He did.” 

“ And did you attempt to enter after this order ? ” 

“I did; but the warrant was in my hand.” 

“Proceed, Mr. Lippet, with your examination.” 

But the attorney saw that the impression was in favor 
of his client, and, waving his hand with a supercilious 
manner, as if unwilling to insult the understanding of the 
jury with any further defense, he replied: — 

“No, sir; I leave it for your honor to charge; I rest 
my case here.” 

“Mr. District Attorney,” said the Judge, “have you 
anything to say ? ” 

Mr. Van der School removed his spectacles, folded 
them, and replacing them once more on his nose, eyed the 
other bill which he held in his hand, and then said, look- 
ing at the bar over the top of his glasses : — 

“I shall rest the prosecution here, if the court please.” 

Judge Temple arose and began the charge. 

“Gentlemen of the jury,” he said, “you have heard 
the testimony, and I shall detain you but a moment. If 


380 


THE PIONEERS 


an officer meet with resistance in the execution of a pro- 
cess, he has an undoubted right to call any citizen to his 
assistance ; and the acts of such assistant come within the 
protection of the law. I shall leave you to judge, gen- 
tlemen, from the testimony, how far the witness in this 
prosecution can be so considered, feeling less reluctance to 
submit the case thus informally to your decision, because 
there is yet another indictment to be tried, which involves 
heavier charges against the unfortunate prisoner.” 

The tone of Marmaduke was mild and insinuating, and 
as his sentiments were given with such apparent impar- 
tiality, they did not fail of carrying due weight with the 
jury. The grave-looking yeomen who composed this tri- 
bunal laid their heads together for a few minutes, with- 
out leaving the box, when the foreman arose, and after 
the forms of the court were duly observed, he pronounced 
the prisoner to be — 

“Not guilty.” 

“You are acquitted of this charge, Nathaniel Bumppo,” 
said the Judge. 

“ Anan ! ” said Natty. 

“You are found not guilty of striking and assaulting 
Mr. Doolittle.” 

“No, no, I’ll not deny but that I took him a little 
roughly by the shoulders,” said Natty, looking about him 
with great simplicity, “ and that I ” — 

“You are acquitted,” interrupted the Judge, “and there 
is nothing further to be said or done in the matter.” 

A look of joy lighted up the features of the old man, 
who now comprehended the case, and placing his cap 
eagerly on his head again, he threw up the bar of his lit- 
tle prison, and said feelingly : — 

“ I must say this for you, Judge Temple, that the law 
has not been so hard on me as I dreaded. I hope God 
will bless you for the kind things you ’ve done to me this 
day. ” 

But the staff of the constable was opposed to his egress, 
and Mr. Lippet whispered a few words in his ear, when 
the aged hunter sank back into his place, and, removing 


THE PIONEERS 


381 


his cap, stroked down the remnants of his gray and sandy 
locks, with an air of mortification mingled with submis- 
sion. 

“Mr. District Attorney , ” said Judge Temple, affecting 
to busy himself with his minutes, “proceed with the sec- 
ond indictment. ” 

Mr. Van der School took great care that no part of the 
presentment which he now read should be lost on his 
auditors. It accused the prisoner of resisting the execu- 
tion of a search-warrant by force of arms, and particular- 
ized, in the vague language of the law, among a variety of 
other weapons, the use of the rifle. This was indeed a 
more serious charge than an ordinary assault and battery, 
and a corresponding degree of interest was manifested by 
the spectators in its result. The prisoner was duly ar- 
raigned, and his plea again demanded. Mr. Lippet had 
anticipated the answers of Natty, and in a whisper advised 
him how to plead. But the feelings of the old hunter 
were awakened by some of the expressions of the indict- 
ment, and forgetful of his caution, he exclaimed : — 

“’Tis a wicked untruth; I crave no man’s blood. 
Them thieves, the Iroquois, won’t say it to my face that 
I ever thirsted after man’s blood. I have fou’t as a sol- 
dier that feared his Maker and his officer, but I never 
pulled trigger on any but a warrior that was up and awake. 
No man can say that I ever struck even a Mingo in his 
blanket. I believe there ’s some thinks there ’s no God 
in a wilderness ! ” 

“Attend to your plea, Bumppo,” said the Judge; “you 
hear that you are accused of using your rifle against an offi- 
cer of justice? are you guilty or not guilty? ” 

By this time the irritated feelings of Natty had found 
vent ; and he rested on the bar for a moment, in a musing 
posture, when he lifted his face, with his silent laugh, and, 
pointing to where the wood-chopper stood, he said: — 

“ Would Billy Kirby be standing there, d’ ye think, if 
I had used the rifle ? ” 

“Then you deny it,” said Mr. Lippet; “you plead not 
guilty ? ” 


382 


THE PIONEERS 


“Sartain,” said Natty; “Billy knows that I never fired 
at all. Billy, do you remember the turkey last winter? 
ah me! that was better than common firing; hut I can’t 
shoot as I used to could.” 

“Enter the plea of not guilty,” said Judge Temple, 
strongly affected by the simplicity of the prisoner. 

Hiram was again sworn, and his testimony given on 
the second charge. He had discovered his former error, 
and proceeded more cautiously than before. He related 
very distinctly, and for the man, with amazing terseness, 
the suspicion against the hunter, the complaint, the issu- 
ing of the warrant, and the swearing in of Kirby: all of 
which he affirmed were done in due form of law. He 
then added the manner in which the constable had been 
received ; and stated distinctly that Natty had pointed the 
rifle at Kirby, and threatened his life if he attempted to 
execute his duty. All this was confirmed by Jotham, 
who was observed to adhere closely to the story of the 
magistrate. Mr. Lippet conducted an artful cross-exami- 
nation of these two witnesses, but after consuming much 
time, was compelled to relinquish the attempt to obtain 
any advantage in despair. 

At length the district attorney called the wood-chopper 
to the bar. Billy gave an extremely confused account of 
the whole affair, although he evidently aimed at the truth, 
until Mr. Van der School aided him by asking some direct 
questions : — 

“It appears from examining the papers, that you de- 
manded admission into the hut legally; so you were put 
in bodily fear by his rifle and threats ? ” 

“I didn’t mind them that, man,” said Billy, snapping 
his fingers; “I should be a poor stick to mind old Lea- 
ther-Stocking. ” 

“But I understood you to say (referring to your previ- 
ous words (as delivered here in court) in the commence- 
ment of your testimony) that you thought he meant to 
shoot you ? ” 

“To be sure I did; and so would you too, Squire, if 
you had seen the chap dropping a muzzle that never misses, 


THE PIONEERS 


383 


and cocking an eye that has a natural squint by long prac- 
tice. I thought there would be a dust on ’t, and my back 
was up at once; but Leather- Stocking gin up the skin, 
and so the matter ended.” 

“Ah! Billy,” said Natty, shaking his head, “’twas a 
lucky thought in me to throw out the hide, or there might 
have been blood spilt; and I ’m sure, if it had been your’n, 
I should have mourned it sorely the little while I have to 
stay. ” 

“Well, Leather-Stocking,” returned Billy, facing the 
prisoner with a freedom and familiarity that utterly disre- 
garded the presence of the court, “as you are on the sub- 
ject, it may he that you ’ve no ” — 

“Go on with your examination, Mr. District Attorney.” 

That gentleman eyed the familiarity between his wit- 
ness and the prisoner with manifest disgust, and indicated 
to the court that he was done. 

“Then you didn’t feel frightened, Mr. Kirby?” said 
the counsel for the prisoner. 

“Me! no,” said Billy, casting his eyes over his own 
huge frame with evident self-satisfaction; “I ’m not to be 
skeared so easy.” 

“You look like a hardy man; where were you born, 
sir 1 ” 

“ Yarmount State ; ’t is a mountaynious place, hut there ’s 
a stiff soil, and it ’s pretty much wooded with beech and 
maple. ” 

“ I have always heard so, ” said Mr. Lippet, soothingly. 
“You have been used to the rifle yourself, in that coun- 
try ? ” 

“I pull the second best trigger in this county. I knock 
under to Natty Bumppo there, sin’ he shot the pigeon.” 

Leather-Stocking raised his head, and laughed again, 
when he abruptly thrust out a wrinkled hand, and said : — 

“ You ’re young yet, Billy, and have n’t seen the matches 
that I have; hut here’s my hand; I hear no malice to 
you, I don’t.” 

Mr. Lippet allowed this conciliatory offering to he ac- 
cepted, and judiciously paused, while the 'spirit of peace 


384 


THE PIONEERS 


was exercising its influence over the two; but the Judge 
interposed his authority. 

“This is an improper place for such dialogues,” he said. 
“Proceed with your examination of this witness, Mr. Lip- 
pet, or I shall order the next.” 

The attorney started, as if unconscious of any impro- 
> priety, and continued : — 

“ So you settled the matter with Natty amicably on the 
spot, did you ? ” 

“He gin me the skin, and I did n’t want to quarrel with 
an old man; for my part, I see no such mighty matter in 
shooting a buck ! ” 

“And you parted friends? and you would never have 
thought of bringing the business up before a court, hadn’t 
you been subpoenaed 1 ” 

“I don’t think I should; he gin the skin, and I didn’t 
feel a hard thought, though Squire Doolittle got some af- 
fronted. ” 

“I have done, sir,” said Mr. Lippet, probably relying 
on the charge of the Judge, as he again seated himself, 
with the air of a man who felt that his success was cer- 
tain. 

When Mr. Van der School arose to address the jury, he 
commenced by saying : — 

“Gentlemen of the jury, I should have interrupted the 
leading questions put by the prisoner’s counsel (by lead- 
ing questions I mean telling him what to say), did I not 
feel confident that the law of the land was superior to any 
advantages (I mean legal advantages) which he might ob- 
tain by his art. The counsel for the prisoner, gentlemen, 
has endeavored to persuade you, in opposition to your own 
good sense, to believe that pointing a rifle at a constable 
(elected or deputed) is a very innocent affair; and that 
society (I mean the commonwealth, gentlemen) shall not 
be endangered thereby. But let me claim your attention, 
while we look over the particulars of this heinous offense.” 
Here Mr. Van der School favored the jury with an abridg- 
ment of the testimony — recounted in such a manner as 
utterly to confuse the faculties of his worthy listeners. 


THE PIONEERS 


385 


After this exhibition he closed as follows: “And now, gen- 
tlemen, having thus made plain to your senses the crime 
of which this unfortunate man has been guilty (unfortu- 
nate both on account of his ignorance and his guilt), I 
shall leave you to your own consciences: not in the least 
doubting that you will see the importance (notwithstand- 
ing the prisoner’s counsel (doubtless relying on your for- 
mer verdict) wishes to appear so confident of success) of 
punishing the offender, and asserting the dignity of the 
laws. ” 

It was now the duty of the Judge to deliver his charge. 
It consisted of a short, comprehensive summary of the 
testimony, laying bare the artifice of the prisoner’s coun- 
sel, and placing the facts in so obvious a light that they 
could not well be misunderstood. “Living as we do, 
gentlemen,” he concluded, “on the skirts of society, it be- 
comes doubly necessary to protect the ministers of the 
law. If you believe the witnesses, in their construction 
of the acts of the prisoner, it is your duty to convict him; 
but if you believe that the old man, who this day appears 
before you, meant not to harm the constable, but was act- 
ing more under the influence of habit than by the instiga- 
tions of malice, it will be your duty to judge him, but to 
do it with lenity.” 

As before, the jury did not leave their box; but, after 
a consultation of some little time, their foreman arose and 
pronounced the prisoner — 

“Guilty.” 

There was but little surprise manifested in the court- 
room at this verdict, as the testimony, the greater part of 
which we have omitted, was too clear and direct to be 
passed over. The judges seemed to have anticipated this 
sentiment, for a consultation was passing among them also 
during the deliberation of the jury, and the preparatory 
movements of the “bench” announced the coming sen- 
tence. 

“Nathaniel Bumppo,” commenced the Judge, making 
the customary pause. 

The old hunter, who had been musing again, with his 


386 


THE PIONEERS 


head on the bar, raised himself, and cried, with a prompt, 
military tone : — 

“Here.” 

The Judge waved his hand for silence, and proceeded : — 
“In forming their sentence, the court have been gov- 
erned as much by the consideration of your ignorance of the 
laws as by a strict sense of the importance of punishing 
such outrages as this of which you have been found guilty. 
They have therefore passed over the obvious punishment 
of whipping on the bare back, in mercy to your years; 
but as the dignity of the law requires an open exhibition 
of the consequences of your crime, it is ordered that you be 
conveyed from this room to the public stocks, where you 
are to be confined for one hour: that you pay a fine to the 
State of one hundred dollars; that you be imprisoned in 
the jail of this county for one calendar month, and further- 
more that your imprisonment do not cease until the said fine 
shall be paid. I feel it my duty, Nathaniel Bumppo ” — 
“And where should I get the money?” interrupted the 
Leather- Stocking, eagerly ; “ where should I get the money ? 
you ’ll take away the bounty on the painters because I 
cut the throat of a deer; and how is an old man to find so 
much gold or silver in the woods! No, no, Judge; think 
better of it, and don’t talk of shutting me up in a jail for 
the little time I have to stay.” 

“If you have anything to urge against the passing of 
the sentence, the court will yet hear you,” said the Judge 
mildly. 

“ I have enough to say agin it ! ” cried Natty, grasping 
the bar on which his fingers were working with a convulsed 
motion. “ Where am I to get the money ? Let me out 
into the woods and hills, where I ’ve been used to breathe 
the clear air, and though I ’m threescore and ten, if you ’ve 
left game enough in the country, I ’ll travel night and day 
but I ’ll make you up the sum afore the season is over. 
Yes, yes ; you see the reason of the thing, and the wicked- 
ness of shutting up an old man, that has spent his days, 
as one may say, where he could always look into the win- 
dows of heaven.” 


THE PIONEERS 


387 


“ I must be governed by the law ” — 

“Talk not to me of law, Marmaduke Temple,” inter- 
rupted the hunter. “Did the beast of the forest mind 
your laws, when it was thirsty and hungering for the blood 
of your own child! She was kneeling to her God for 
a greater favor than I ask, and He heard her; and if 
you now say no to my prayers, do you think He will be 
deaf 1 ” 

“ My private feelings must not enter into ” — 

“ Hear me, Marmaduke Temple, ” interrupted the old 
man, with melancholy earnestness, “and hear reason. 
I ’ve traveled these mountains when you was no Judge, 
but an infant in your mother’s arms; and I feel as if I 
had a right and a privilege to travel them agin afore I 
die. Have you forgot the time that you come on to the 
lake shore when there wasn’t even a jail to lodge in; and 
didn’t I give you my own bearskin to sleep on, and the 
fat of a noble buck to satisfy the cravings of your hunger ? 
Yes, yes — you thought it no -sin then to kill a deer! 
And this I did, though I had no reason to love you, for 
you had never done anything but harm to them that loved 
and sheltered me. And now, will you shut me up in 
your dungeons to pay me for my kindness? A hundred 
dollars ! where should I get the money ? Ho, no ; there ’s 
them that says hard things of you, Marmaduke Temple, 
but you ain’t so bad as to wish to see an old man die in 
a prison because he stood up for the right. Come, friend, 
let me pass; it ’s long sin’ I ’ve been used to such crowds, 
and I crave to be in the woods agin. Don’t fear me, 
Judge — I bid you not to fear me; for if there ’s beaver 
enough left on the streams, or the buckskins will sell for 
a shilling apiece, you shall have the last penny of the fine. 
Where are ye, pups! come away, dogs! come away! we 
have a grievous toil to do for our years, but it shall be 
done — yes, yes, I ’ve promised it, and it shall be done! ” 

It is unnecessary to say that the movement of the Lea- 
ther-Stocking was again intercepted by the constable ; but 
before he had time to speak, a bustling in the crowd, and 
a loud hem, drew all eyes to another part of the room. 


388 


THE PIONEERS 


Benjamin had succeeded in edging his way through the 
people, and was now seen balancing his short body, with 
one foot in a window, and the other on a railing of the 
jury box. To the amazement of the whole court, the 
steward was evidently preparing to speak. After a good 
deal of difficulty, he succeeded in drawing from his pocket 
a small hag, and then found utterance. 

“If-so-be,” he said, “that your honor is agreeable to 
trust the poor fellow out on another cruise among the 
beasts, here ’s a small matter that will help to bring down 
the risk, seeing that there ’s just thirty-five of your Span- 
iards in it; and I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that 
they was raal British guineas, for the sake of the old boy. 
But ’tis as it is; and if Squire Dickens will just be so 
good as to overhaul this small bit of an account, and take 
enough from the bag to settle the same, he ’s welcome to 
hold on upon the rest, till such time as the Leather- Stock- 
ing can grapple with them said beaver, or, for that matter, 
forever, and no thanks asked.” 

As Benjamin concluded, he thrust out the wooden reg- 
ister of his arrears to the “ Bold Dragoon ” with one hand, 
while he offered his bag of dollars with the other. As- 
tonishment at this singular interruption produced a pro- 
found stillness in the room, which was only interrupted 
by the Sheriff, who struck his sword on the table, and 
cried : — 

“Silence!” 

“There must be an end to this,” said the Judge, strug- 
gling to overcome his feelings. “ Constable, lead the pris- 
oner to the stocks. Mr. Clerk, what stands next on the 
calendar ? ” 

Natty seemed to yield to his destiny, for he sank his 
head on his chest, and followed the officer from the court- 
room in silence. The crowd moved back for the passage 
of the prisoner, and when his tall form was seen descend- 
ing from the outer door, a rush of the people to the scene 
of his disgrace followed. 


THE PIONEERS 


389 


CHAPTEB XXXIV. 


Ha ! ha ! look ! he wears cruel garters. 

Shakespeare : King Lear , II. iv. 7. 


The punishments of the common law were still known, 
at the time of our tale, to the people of New York; and 
the whipping-post, and its companion the stocks, were not 
yet supplanted by the more merciful expedients of the 
public prison. Immediately in front of the jail those 
relics of the elder times were situated, as a lesson of pre- 
cautionary justice to the evil-doers of the settlement . 1 

Natty followed the constables to this spot, bowing his 
head with submission to a power that he was unable to 
oppose, and surrounded by the crowd that formed a circle 
about his person, exhibiting in their countenances strong 
curiosity. A constable raised the upper part of the stocks, 
and pointed with his finger to the holes where the old 
man was to place his feet. Without making the least ob- 
jection to the punishment, the Leather-Stocking quietly 
seated himself on the ground, and suffered his limbs to be 
laid in the openings, without even a murmur; though he 
cast one glance about him, in quest of that sympathy that 
human nature always seems to require under suffering. If 
he met no direct manifestations of pity, neither did he see 
any unfeeling exultation, or hear a single reproachful epi- 
thet. The character of the mob, if it could be called by 
such a name, was that of attentive subordination. 

The constable was in the act of lowering the upper 
plank, when Benjamin, who had pressed close to the side 
of the prisoner, said, in his hoarse tones, as if seeking for 
some cause to create a quarrel : — 

“Whereaway, Master Constable, is the use of clapping 
a man in them here bilboes ? it neither stops his grog nor 
hurts his back ; what for is it that you do the thing % ” 

1 The village jail stood in what is now called “Pioneer Street,” on the 
eastern side. Directly opposite, on the western side of the street, stood 
the stocks and the whipping-post. In July, 1795, a lnan was flogged at 
the whipping-post for stealing some pieces of ribbon. — S. F. C. 


390 


THE PIONEERS 


“ ’T is the sentence of the court, Mr. Penguillium, and 
there ’s law for it, I s’pose.” 

“Aye, aye, I know that there ’s law for the thing; hut 
whereaway do you find the use, I say 1 ? it does no harm, 
and it only keeps a man by the heels for the small matter 
of two glasses.” 

“Is it no harm, Benny Pump,” said Natty, raising his 
eyes with a piteous look in the face of the steward, “is it 
no harm to show off a man in his seventy-first year, like 
a tame bear, for the settlers to look on ! Is it no harm to 
put an old soldier, that has sarved through the war of 
’fifty-six, and seen the inimy in the ’seventy-six business, 
into a place like this, where the hoys can point at him and 
say, I have known the time when he was a spectacle for 
the county ! Is it no harm to bring down the pride of an 
honest man to he the equal of the beasts of the forest ! ” 

Benjamin stared about him fiercely, and could he have 
found a single face that expressed contumely, he would 
have been prompt to quarrel with its owner; but meeting 
everywhere with looks of sobriety, and occasionally of 
commiseration, he very deliberately seated himself by the 
side of the hunter, and placing his legs in the two vacant 
holes of the stocks, he said : — 

“Now lower away, Master Constable, lower away, I tell 
ye! If-so-be there’s such a thing hereabouts as a man 

that wants to see a bear, let him look and be d d, and 

he shall find two of them, and mayhap one of the same 
that can bite as well as growl.” 

“ But I have no orders to put you in the stocks, Mr. 
Pump,” cried the constable; “you must get up, and let 
me do my duty.” 

“You’ve my orders, and what do you need better to 
meddle with my own feet? so lower away, will ye, and 
let me see the man that chooses to open his mouth with 
a grin on it.” 

“There can’t be any harm in locking up a creatur’ that 
■will enter the pound,” said the constable, laughing, and 
closing the stocks on them both. 

It was fortunate that this act was executed with deci- 


THE PIONEERS 


391 


sion, for the whole of the spectators, when they saw Ben- 
jamin assume the position he took, felt an inclination for 
merriment which few thought it worth while to suppress. 
The steward struggled violently for his liberty again, with 
an evident intention of making battle on those who stood 
nearest to him; hut the key was already turned, and all 
his efforts were vain. 

“Hark ye, Master Constable,” he cried, “just clear 
away your bilboes for the small matter of a log-glass, will 
ye, and let me show some of them there chaps who it is 
they are so merry about.” 

“No, no, you would go in, and you can’t come out,” 
returned the officer, “until the time has expired that the 
Judge directed for the keeping of the prisoner.” 

Benjamin, finding that his threats and his struggles were 
useless, had good sense enough to learn patience from the 
resigned manner of his companion, and soon settled him- 
self down by the side of Natty, with a contemptuousness 
expressed in his hard features that showed he had substi- 
tuted disgust for rage. When the violence of the stew- 
ard’s feelings had in some measure subsided, he turned to 
his fellow-sufferer, and, with a motive that might have 
vindicated a worse effusion, he attempted the charitable 
office of consolation. 

“Taking it by and large, Master Bump-ho, ’t is but a 
small matter after all,” he said. “Now, I ’ve known very 
good sort of men, aboard of the Boadishey, laid by the 
heels — for nothing, mayhap, but forgetting that they’d 
drunk their allowance already, when a glass of grog has 
come in their way. This is nothing more than riding 
with two anchors ahead, waiting for a turn in the tide, or 
a shift of wind, d’ ye see, with a soft bottom and plenty 
of room for the sweep of your hawse. Now I ’ve seen 
many a man, for overshooting his reckoning, as I told ye, 
moored head and starn, where he couldn’t so much as 
heave his broadside round, and mayhap a stopper clapt on 
his tongue too, in the shape of a pump-bolt lashed athwart- 
ship his jaws, all the same as an outrigger alongside of a 
taffrail-rail. ” 


392 


THE PIONEEKS 


The hunter appeared to appreciate the kind intentions 
of the other, though he could not understand his eloquence ; 
and raising his humbled countenance, he attempted a smile, 
as he said : — 

“ Anan ! ” 

“ ’T is nothing, I say, but a small matter of a squall that 
will soon blow over,” continued Benjamin. “To you that 
has such a length of keel, it must be all the same as no- 
thing; tho”f, seeing that I’m a little short in my lower 
timbers, they ’ve triced my heels up in such a way as to 
give me a bit of a cant. But what cares I, Master Bump-ho, 
if the ship strains a little at her anchor; it ’s only for a 
dog-watch, and damme but she ’ll sail with you then on 
that cruise after them said beaver. I ’m not much used 
to small-arms, seeing that I was stationed at the ammuni- 
tion-boxes, being summ’at too low-rigged to see over the 
hammock-cloths; but I can carry the game, d’ ye see, and 
mayhap make out to lend a hand with the traps; and if- 
so-be you ’re anyway so handy with them as ye be with 
your boat-hook, ’t will be but a short cruise after all. I ’ve 
squared the yards with Squire Dickens this morning, and 
I shall send him word that he need n’t bear my name on 
the books again till such time as the cruise is over.” 

“You’re used to dwell with men, Benny,” said Lea- 
ther-Stocking, mournfully, “and the ways of the woods 
would be hard on you, if ” — 

“Not a bit — not a bit,” cried the steward; “I ’m none 
of your fair-weather chaps, Master Bump-ho, as sails only 
in smooth water. When I find a friend I sticks by him, 
d’ ye see. Now, there ’s no better man a-going than 
Squire Dickens, and I love him about the same as I loves 
Mistress Hollister’s new keg of Jamaiky.” The steward 
paused, and turning his uncouth visage on the hunter, he 
surveyed him with a roguish leer of his eye, and gradually 
suffered the muscles of his hard features to relax, until 
his face was illuminated by the display of his white teeth, 
when he dropped his voice, and added: “I say, Master 
Leather- Stocking, ’t is fresher and livelier than any Hol- 
lands you ’ll get in Garnsey. But we ’ll send a hand over 


THE PIONEERS 


393 


and ask the woman for a taste, for I’m so jammed in 
these here bilboes, that I begin to want summ’at to lighten 
my upper works.” 

Natty sighed and gazed about him on the crowd, that 
already began to disperse, and which had now diminished 
greatly as its members scattered in their various pursuits. 
He looked wistfully at Benjamin, but did not reply; a 
deeply seated anxiety seeming to absorb every other sensa- 
tion, and to throw a melancholy gloom over his wrinkled 
features, which were working with the movements of his 
mind. 

The steward was about to act on the old principle that 
silence gives consent, when Hiram Doolittle, attended by 
Jotham, stalked out of the crowd across the open space, 
and approached the stocks. The magistrate passed by the 
end where Benjamin was seated, and posted himself at a 
safe distance from the steward, in front of the Leather- 
Stocking. Hiram stood for a moment, cowering before 
the keen looks that Natty fastened on him and suffering 
under an embarrassment that was quite new; when, hav- 
ing in some degree recovered himself, he looked at the 
heavens and then at the smoky atmosphere, as if it were 
only an ordinary meeting with a friend, and said in his 
formal, hesitating way : — 

“Quite a scurcity of rain lately; I some think we shall 
have a long drought on ’t.” 

Benjamin was occupied in untying his bag of dollars, 
and did not observe the approach of the magistrate, while 
Natty turned his face, in which every muscle was working, 
away from him in disgust without answering. Rather 
encouraged than daunted by this exhibition of dislike, 
Hiram, after a short pause, continued. 

“The clouds look as if they ’d no water in them, and the 
earth is dreadfully parched. To my judgment, there ’ll 
be short crops this season, if the rain does n’t fall quite 
speedily. ” 

The air with which Mr. Doolittle delivered this pro- 
phetical opinion was peculiar to his speeies. It was a 
jesuitical, cold, unfeeling, and selfish manner, that seemed 


394 


THE PIONEERS 


to say, “I have kept within the law,” to the man he had 
so cruelly injured. It quite pvercame the restraint that 
the old hunter had been laboring to impose on himself, 
and he burst out in a warm glow of indignation. 

“Why should the rain fall from the clouds,” he cried, 
“when you force the tears from the eyes of the old, the 
sick, and the poor ! Away with ye — away with ye ! you 
may be formed in the image of the Maker, but Satan dwells 
in your heart. Away with ye, I say ! I am mournful, and 
the sight of ye brings bitter thoughts.” 

Benjamin ceased thumbing his money, and raised his 
head at the instant that Hiram, who was thrown off his 
guard by the invectives of the hunter, unluckily trusted 
his person within reach of the steward, who grasped one 
of his legs with a hand that had the grip of a vice, and 
whirled the magistrate from his feet, before he had either 
time to collect his senses or to exercise the strength he 
did really possess. Benjamin wanted neither proportions 
nor manhood in his head, shoulders, and arms, though all 
the rest of his frame appeared to be originally intended for 
a very different sort of a man. He exerted his physical 
powers on the present occasion with much discretion; and 
as he had taken his antagonist at a great disadvantage, the 
struggle resulted very soon in Benjamin getting the magis- 
trate fixed in a posture somewhat similar to his own, and 
manfully placed face to face. 

“You’re a ship’s cousin, I tell ye, Master Doo-but- 
little,” roared the steward; “some such matter as a ship’s 
cousin, sir. I know you, I do, with your fair-weather 
speeches to Squire Dickens to his face, and then you go 
and sarve out your grumbling to all the old women in the 
town, do ye. Ain’t it enough for any Christian, let him 
harbor never so much malice, to get an honest old fellow 
laid by the heels in this fashion, without carrying sail so 
hard on the poor dog as if you would run him down as 
he lay at his anchors ? But I ’ve logged many a hard 
thing against your name, master, and now the time ’s come 
to foot up the day’s work, d’ ye see; so square yourself, 
you lubber, square yourself, and we ’ll soon know who ’s 
the better man.” 


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395 


“ J otham ! ” cried the frightened magistrate — “ Jotham ! 
call in the constables. Mr. Penguillium, I command the 
peace — I order yon to keep the peace. ” 

“There ’s been more peace than love atwixt us, master, ” 
cried the steward, making some very unequivocal demon- 
strations towards hostility; “so mind yourself! square 
yourself, I say! do you smell this here bit of a sledge- 
hammer 1 ” 

“ Lay hands on me if you dare ! ” exclaimed Hiram, as 
well as he could under the grasp which the steward held 
on his throttle, “lay hands on me if you dare! ” 

“If ye call this laying, master, you are welcome to the 
eggs,” roared the steward. 

It becomes our disagreeable duty to record here that the 
acts of Benjamin now became violent; for he darted his 
sledge-hammer violently on the anvil of Mr. Doolittle’s 
countenance, and the place became, in an instant a scene 
of tumult and confusion. The crowd rushed in a dense 
circle around the spot, while some ran to the court-room 
to give the alarm, and one or two of the more juvenile 
part of the multitude had a desperate trial of speed to see 
who should he the happy man to communicate the critical 
situation of the magistrate to his wife. 

Benjamin worked away with great industry and a good 
deal of skill at his occupation, using one hand to raise up 
his antagonist while he knocked him over with the other; 
for he would have been disgraced in his own estimation 
had he struck a blow on a fallen adversary. By this con- 
siderate arrangement he had found means to hammer the 
visage of Hiram out of all shape, by the time Bichard suc- 
ceeded in forcing his way through the throng to the point 
of combat. The Sheriff afterwards declared that, inde- 
pendently of his mortification as preserver of the peace 
of the county at this interruption to its harmony, he was 
never so grieved in his life as when he saw this breach of 
unity between his favorites. Hiram had in some degree 
become necessary to his vanity, and Benjamin, strange as 
it may appear, he really loved. This attachment was ex- 
hibited in the first words that he uttered. 


396 


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“ Squire Doolittle ! Squire Doolittle ! I am ashamed to 
see a man of your character and office forget himself so 
much as to disturb the peace, insult the court, and beat 
poor Benjamin in this manner! ” 

At the sound of Mr. Jones’s voice, the steward ceased 
his employment, and Hiram had an opportunity of raising 
his discomfited visage towards the mediator. Emboldened 
by the sight of the Sheriff, Mr. Doolittle again had re- 
course to his lungs. 

“I ’ll have the law on you for this,” he cried desper- 
ately; “I ’ll have the law on you for this. I call on you, 
Mr. Sheriff, to seize this man, and I demand that you take 
his body into custody.” 

By this time Bichard was master of the true state of 
the case, and, turning to the steward, he said, reproach- 
fully:— 

“Benjamin, how came you in the stocks? I always 
thought you were mild and docile as a lamb. It was for 
your docility that I most esteemed you. Benjamin! Ben- 
jamin! you have not only disgraced yourself, hut your 
friends, by this shameless conduct. Bless me ! Bless me ! 
Mr. Doolittle, he seems to have knocked your face all of 
one side.” 

Hiram by this time had got on his feet again, and with- 
out the reach of the steward, when he broke forth in vio- 
lent appeals for vengeance. The offense was too apparent 
to he passed over, and the Sheriff, mindful of the impar- 
tiality exhibited by his cousin in the recent trial of the 
Leather- Stocking, came to the painful conclusion that it 
was necessary to commit his major-domo to prison. As 
the time of Natty’s punishment was expired, and Benja- 
min found that they were to he confined, for that night 
at least, in the same apartment, he made no very strong 
objections to the measure nor spoke of hail, though, as 
the Sheriff preceded the party of constables that conducted 
them to the jail, he uttered the following remonstrance: — 

“As to being berthed with Master Bump-ho for a night 
or so, it ’s hut little I think of it, Squire Dickens, seeing 
that I calls him an honest man, and one as has a handy 


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397 


way with boat-hooks and rifles; but as for owning that 
a man desarves anything worse than a double allowance, 
for knocking that carpenter’s face a-one-side, as you call 
it, I ’ll maintain it ’s agin reason and Christianity. If 
there ’s a bloodsucker in this ’ere county, it ’s that very 
chap. Aye! I know him! and if he hasn’t got all the 
same as dead wood in his head works, he knows summ’at 
of me. Where ’s the mighty harm, Squire, that you take 
it so much to heart? It ’s all the same as any other bat- 
tle, d’ ye see, sir, being broadside to broadside, only that 
it was fou’t at anchor, which was what we did in Port 
Praya roads, when Suffering 1 came in among us; and a 
suff’ring time he had of it, before he got out again.” 

Richard thought it unworthy of him to make any reply 
to this speech; but when his prisoners were safely lodged 
in an outer dungeon, ordering the bolts to be drawn and 
the key turned, he withdrew. 

Benjamin held frequent and friendly dialogues with 
different people, through the iron gratings, during the 
afternoon; but his companion paced their narrow limits, 
in his moccasins, with quick, impatient tread — his face 
hanging on his breast in dejection, or when lifted at mo- 
ments to the idlers at the window, lighted, perhaps, for 
an instant with the childish aspect of aged forgetfulness, 
which would vanish directly in an expression of deep and 
obvious anxiety. 

At the close of the day, Edwards was seen at the win- 
dow, in earnest dialogue with his friend ; and after he de- 
parted, it was thought that he had communicated words 
of comfort to the hunter, who threw himself on his pallet 
and was soon in a deep sleep. The curious spectators had 
exhausted the conversation of the steward, who had drunk 
good fellowship with half of his acquaintance, and as Natty 
was no longer in motion, by eight o’clock, Billy Kirby, 
who was the last lounger at the window, retired into the 
“Templetown Coffee-house,” when Natty rose and hung a 
blanket before the opening and the prisoners apparently 
retired for the night. 

l [The reference is to a naval action off the Cape Verde Islands, 1781, 
under the French admiral, Pierre Andr£ Suffren.] 


398 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

And to avoid the foe’s pursuit, 

With spurring put their cattle to ’t ; 

And till all four were out of wind, 

And danger too, ne’er looked behind. 

Samuel Butler : Hudibras, Part II. Canto ii. 841-844. 

As the shades of evening approached, the jurors, wit- 
nesses and other attendants on the court began to dis- 
perse, and before nine o’clock the village was quiet and 
its streets nearly deserted. At that hour Judge Temple 
and his daughter, followed at a short distance by Louisa 
Grant, walked slowly down the avenue, under the slight 
shadows of the young poplars, holding the following dis- 
course : — 

“You can best soothe his wounded spirit, my child,” 
said Marmaduke ; “ but it will be dangerous to touch on 
the nature of his offense ; the sanctity of the laws must be 
respected. ” 

“Surely, sir,” cried the impatient Elizabeth, “those 
laws that condemn a man like the Leather-Stocking to 
so severe a punishment, for an offense that even I must 
think very venial, cannot he perfect.” 

“ Thou talkest of what thou dost not understand, Eliza- 
beth, ” returned her father. “ Society cannot exist without 
wholesome restraints. Those restraints cannot be inflicted 
without security and respect to the persons of those who 
administer them; and it would sound ill indeed to report 
that a judge had extended favor to a convicted criminal, 
because he had saved the life of his child.” 

“I see — I see the difficulty of your situation, dear sir,” 
cried the daughter, “hut in appreciating the offense of 
poor Natty, I cannot separate the minister of the law from 
the man.” 

“There thou talkest as a woman, child; it is not for an 
assault on Hiram Doolittle, but for threatening the life of 
a constable, who was in the performance of ” — 

“It is immaterial whether it be one or the other,” in- 
terrupted Miss Temple, with a logic that contained more 


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399 


feeling than reason; “I know Natty to be innocent, and, 
thinking so, I must think all wrong who oppress him.” 
“His judge among the number! thy father, Elizabeth? ” 
“Nay, nay, nay; do not put such questions to me; 
give me my commission, father, and let me proceed to ex- 
ecute it.” 

The Judge paused a moment, smiling fondly on his 
child, and then dropped his hand affectionately on her 
shoulder as he answered : — 

“Thou hast reason, Bess, and much of it too, hut thy 
heart lies too near thy head. But listen: in this pocket- 
book are two hundred dollars. Go to the prison — there 
are none in this place to harm thee — give this note to 
the jailer, and when thou seest Bumppo, say what thou 
wilt to the poor old man ; give scope to the feelings of thy 
warm heart ; but try to remember, Elizabeth, that the laws 
alone remove us from the condition of the savages; that 
he has been criminal, and that his judge was thy father.” 

Miss Temple made no reply, but she pressed the hand 
that held the pocketbook to her bosom, and taking her 
friend by the arm they issued together from the inclosure 
into the principal street of the village. 

As they pursued their walk in silence, under the row 
of houses, where the deeper gloom of the evening effect- 
ually concealed their persons, no sound reached them ex- 
cepting the slow tread of a yoke of oxen, with the rattling 
of a cart, that were moving along the street in the same 
direction with themselves. The figure of the teamster 
was just discernible by the dim light, lounging by the 
side of his cattle with a listless air, as if fatigued by the 
toil of the day. At the corner, where the jail stood, 
the progress of the ladies was impeded, for a moment, by 
the oxen, who were turned up to the side of the building, 
and given a lock of hay, which they had carried on their 
necks, as a reward for their patient labor. The whole of 
this was so natural, and so common, that Elizabeth saw 
nothing to induce a second glance at the team, until she 
heard the teamster speaking to his cattle in $ low voice : — 
“ Mind yourself, Brindle ; will you, sir ! will you ! ” 


400 


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The language itself was unusual to oxen, with which all 
who dwell in a new country are familiar; but there was 
something in the voice also that startled Miss Temple. 
On turning the corner, she necessarily approached the man, 
and her look was enabled to detect the person of Oliver 
Edwards, concealed under the coarse garb of a teamster. 
Their eyes met at the same instant, and, notwithstanding 
the gloom, and the enveloping cloak of Elizabeth, the re- 
cognition was mutual. 

“ Miss Temple ! ” “Mr. Edwards !” were exclaimed si- 
multaneously, though a feeling that seemed common to 
both rendered the words nearly inaudible. 

“Is it possible! ” exclaimed Edwards, after the moment 
of doubt had passed; “do I see you so nigh the jail! hut 
you are going to the rectory; I beg pardon, Miss Grant, 
I believe; I did not recognize you at first. ” 

The sigh which Louisa uttered was so faint, that it was 
only heard by Elizabeth, who replied quickly : — 

“We are going not only to the jail, Mr. Edwards, hut 
into it. We wish to show the Leather-Stocking that we 
do not forget his services, and that at the same time we 
must be just, we are also grateful. I suppose you are on 
a similar errand; but let me beg that you will give us 
leave to precede you ten minutes. Good-night, sir; I — 
I — am quite sorry, Mr. Edwards, to see you reduced to 
such labor ; I am sure my father would ” — 

“I shall wait your pleasure, madam,” interrupted the 
youth, coldly. “May I beg that you will not mention 
my being here ? ” 

“Certainly,” said Elizabeth, returning his how by a 
slight inclination of her head, and urging the tardy Louisa 
forward. As they entered the jailer’s house, however, 
Miss Grant found leisure to whisper : — 

“Would it not he well to offer part of your money to 
Oliver 1 half of it will pay the fine of Bumppo ; and he is 
so unused to hardships ! I am sure my father will sub- 
scribe much of his little pittance to place him in a station 
that is more worthy of him.” 

The involuntary smile that passed over the features of 


THE PIONEERS 


401 


Elizabeth was blended with an expression of deep and 
heartfelt pity. She did not reply, however, and the ap- 
pearance of the jailer soon recalled the thoughts of both 
to the object of their visit. 

The rescue of the ladies, and their consequent interest 
in his prisoner, together with the informal manners that 
prevailed in the country, all united to prevent any sur- 
prise on the part of the jailer at their request for admis- 
sion to Bumppo. The note of Judge Temple, however, 
would have silenced all objections, if he had felt them, 
and he led the way without hesitation to the apartment 
that held the prisoners. The instant the key was put into 
the lock, the hoarse voice of Benjamin was heard, de- 
manding : — 

“Yo! hoy ! who comes there ? ” , 

“Some visitors that you’ll be glad to see,” returned 
the jailer. “What have you done to the lock, that it 
won’t turn? ” 

“Handsomely, handsomely, master,” cried the stew- 
ard; “I have just drove a nail into a berth alongside of 
this here bolt as a stopper, d’ ye see, so that Master 
Do-but-little can’t be running in and breezing up another 
fight atwixt us; for, to my account, there ’ll be but a ban- 
yan with me soon, seeing that they ’ll mulct me of my 
Spaniards, all the same as if I ’d overflogged the lubber. 
Throw your ship into the wind, and lay by for a small 
matter, will ye? and I ’ll soon clear a passage.” 

The sounds of hammering gave an assurance that the 
steward was in earnest, and in a short time the lock 
yielded, when the door was opened. 

Benjamin had evidently been anticipating the seizure of 
his money, for he had made frequent demands on the 
favorite cask at the “ Bold Dragoon, ” during the afternoon 
and evening, and was now in that state which by marine 
imagery is called “half-seas-over.” It was no easy thing to 
destroy the balance of the old tar by the effects of liquor, 
for, as he expressed it himself, “He was too low-rigged 
not to carry sail in all weathers; ” but he was precisely in 
that condition which is so expressively termed “ muddy. ” 


402 


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When he perceived who the visitors were, he retreated to 
the side of the room where his pallet lay, and, regard- 
less of the presence of his young mistress, seated himself 
on it with an air of great sobriety, placing his back firmly 
against the wall. 

“If you undertake to spoil my locks in this manner, 
Mr. Pump,” said the jailer, “I shall put a stopper, as you 
call it, on your legs, and tie you down to your bed.” 

“What for should ye, master?” grumbled Benjamin; 
“I’ve rode out one squall to-day anchored by the heels, 
and I wants no more of them. Where ’s the harm of do- 
ing all the same as yourself ? Leave that there door free 
outboard and you ’ll find no locking inboard, I ’ll promise 
ye.” 

“I must shut up for the night at nine,” said the jailer, 
“and it ’s now forty-two minutes past eight.” He placed 
the little candle on a rough pine table, and withdrew. 

“ Leather- Stocking ! ” said Elizabeth, when the key of 
the door was turned on them again, “ my good friend Lea- 
ther-Stocking ! I have come on a message of gratitude. 
Had you submitted to the search, worthy old man, the 
death of the deer would have been a trifle, and all would 
have been well ” — 

“Submit to the s’arch! ” interrupted Natty, raising his 
face from resting on his knees, without rising from the 
corner where he had seated himself; “d’ye think, gal, I 
would let such a varmint into my hut ? No, no; I would n’t 
have opened the door to your own sweet countenance then. 
But they are wilcome to s’arch among the coals and ashes 
now: they ’ll find only some such heap as is to be seen at 
every pot-ashery in the mountains.” 

The old man dropped his face again on one hand, and 
seemed to be lost in melancholy. 

“The hut can be rebuilt, and made better than before,” 
returned Miss Temple; “and it shall be my office to see 
it done, when your imprisonment is ended.” 

“ Can you raise the dead, child ? ” said Natty, in a sor- 
rowful voice, “can ye go into the place where you ’ve laid 
your fathers, and mothers, and children, and gather to- 


THE PIONEERS 


403 


gether their ashes, and make the same men and women of 
them as afore? You do not know what ’tis to lay your 
head for more than forty years under the cover of the same 
logs, and to look on the same things for the better part of 
a man’s life. You are young yet, child, hut you are one 
of the most precious of God’s creatures. I had a hope 
for ye that it might come to pass, hut it ’s all over now; 
this put to that, will drive the thing quite out of his mind 
forever. ” 

Miss Temple must have understood the meaning of the 
old man better than the other listeners; for, while Louisa 
stood innocently by her side, commiserating the griefs of 
the hunter, she bent her head aside, so as to conceal her 
features. The action and the feeling that caused it lasted 
but a moment. 

“ Other logs, and better, though, can be had, and shall be 
found for you, my old defender,” she continued. “Your 
confinement will soon be over, and, before that time ar- 
rives, I shall have a house prepared for you where you may 
spend the close of your harmless life in ease and plenty.” 

“ Ease and plenty ! house ! ” repeated Natty, slowly. 
“You mean well, you mean well, and I quite mourn that 
it cannot be; but he has seen me a sight and a laughing 
stock for ” — 

“Damn your stocks,” said Benjamin, flourishing his 
bottle with one hand, from which he had been taking 
hasty and repeated draughts, while he made gestures of 
disdain with the other; “who cares for his bilboes? there ’s 
a leg that ’s been stuck up an end like a jib-boom for an 
hour, d’ye see, and what’s it the worse for ’t, ha! canst 
tell me, what ’s it the worser, ha! ” 

“I believe you forget, Mr. Pump, in whose presence 
you are,” said Elizabeth. 

“Forget you, Miss Lizzy,” returned the steward; “if 
I do, damme ; you are not to be forgot, like Goody Pret- 
tybones, up at the big house there. I say, old sharp- 
shooter, she may have pretty bones, but I can’t say so 
much for her flesh, d’ ye see, for she looks* somewhat like 
an atomy with another man’s jacket on. Now, for the 


404 


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skin of her face, it ’s all the same as a new topsail with a 
taut bolt-rope, being snug at the leaches hut all in a bight 
about the inner cloths.” 

“ Peace — I command you to he silent, sir ! ” said Eliza- 
beth. 

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” returned the steward. “You 
didn’t say I shouldn’t drink, though.” 

“We will not speak of what is to become of others,” 
said Miss Temple, turning again to the hunter, “ but of 
your own fortunes, Natty. It shall be my care to see that 
you pass the rest of your days in ease and plenty.” 

“Ease and plenty!” again repeated the Leather- Stock- 
ing; “what ease can there be to an old man, who must 
walk a mile across the open fields before he can find a 
shade to hide him from a scorching sun ! or what plenty 
is there where you may hunt a day, and not start a buck, 
or see anything bigger than a mink or maybe a stray fox ! 
Ah! I shall have a hard time after them very heavers, 
for this fine. I must go low toward the Pennsylvany line 
in search of the creatur’s, maybe a hundred mile; for they 
are not to be got hereaway. No, no — your betterments 
and clearings have druv the knowing things out of the 
country ; and instead of beaver-dams, which is the natur’ of 
the animal, and according to Providence, you turn hack 
the waters over the low grounds with your mill-dams, as 
if ’t was in man to stay the drops from going where He 
wills them to go. Benny, unless you stop your hand from 
going so often to your mouth, you won’t be ready to start 
when the time comes.” 

“Harkee, Master Bump-ho,” said the steward; “don’t 
you fear for Ben. When the watch is called, set me on 
my legs, and give me the hearings and distance of where 
you want to steer, and I ’ll carry sail with the best of you, 
I will.” 

“The time has come now,” said the hunter, listening; “I 
hear the horns of the oxen rubbing agin the side of the 
jail.” 

“Well, say the word, and then heave ahead, shipmate,” 
said Benjamin. 


THE PIONEERS 


405 


“You won’t betray us, gal?” said Natty, looking sim- 
ply into the face of Elizabeth; “you won’t betray an old 
man, who craves to breathe the clear air of heaven? I 
mean no harm ; and if the law says that I must pay the 
hundred dollars, I ’ll take the season through, but it shall 
be forthcoming; and this good man will help me.” 

“You catch them,” said Benjamin, with a sweeping 
gesture of his arm, “and if they get away again, call me 
a slink, that ’s all.” 

“But what mean you? ” cried the wondering Elizabeth. 
“Here you must stay for thirty days; but I have the 
money for your fine in this purse. Take it; pay it in the 
morning, and summon patience for your month. I will 
come often to see you, with my friend; we will make up 
your clothes with our own hands; indeed, indeed, you 
shall be comfortable.” 

“Would ye, children?” said Natty, advancing across 
the floor with an air of kindness, and taking the hand of 
Elizabeth ; “ would ye be so kearful of an old man, and 
just for shooting the beast which cost him nothing ? Such 
things doesn’t run in the blood, I believe, for you seem 
not to forget a favor. Your little fingers could n’t do 
much on a buckskin, nor be you used to such a thread as 
sinews. But if he hasn’t got past hearing, he shall hear 
it and know it, that he may see, like me, there is some 
who know how to remember a kindness.” 

“Tell him nothing,” cried Elizabeth, earnestly, “if you 
love me, if you regard my feelings, tell him nothing. It 
is of yourself only I would talk, and for yourself only I 
act. I grieve, Leather-Stocking, that the law requires 
that you should be detained here so long; but, after all, 
it will be only a short month, and ” — 

“A month!” exclaimed Natty, opening his mouth with 
his usual laugh; “not a day, nor a night, nor an hour, 
gal. Judge Temple may sintence, but he can’t keep, 
without a better dungeon than this. I was taken once by 
the French, and they put sixty-two of us in a block-house, 
nigh hand to old Frontenac; but ’t was easy to cut through 
a pine log to them that was used to timber. ” The hunter 


406 


THE PIONEERS 


paused, and looked cautiously around the room, when, 
laughing again, he shoved the steward gently from his 
post, and removing the bedclothes, discovered a hole re- 
cently cut in the logs with a mallet and chisel. “It’s 
only a kick, and the outside piece is off, and then 55 — 

“Off! aye, off! 75 cried Benjamin, rousing from his stu- 
por; “well, here’s off. Aye! aye! you catch ’em, and 
I ’ll hold on to them said beaver-hats. 55 

“I fear this lad will trouble me much, 55 said Natty; 
“ ’t will be a hard pull for the mountain, should they take 
the scent soon, and he is not in a state of mind to run. 55 

“Bun! 55 echoed the steward; “no, sheer alongside, and 
let ’s have a fight of it. 55 

“ Peace ! 55 ordered Elizabeth. 

“Aye, aye, ma’am. 55 

“You will not leave us, surely, Leather-Stocking, 55 con- 
tinued Miss Temple; “I beseech you, reflect that you will 
be driven to the woods entiiely, and that you are fast get- 
ting old. Be patient for a little time, when you can go 
abroad openly, and with honor. 55 

“ Is there beaver to be catched here, gal ? 55 

“If not, here is money to discharge the fine, and in a 
month you are free. See, here it is in gold. 55 

“ Gold ! 55 said Natty, with a kind of childish curiosity ; 
“it ’s long sin’ I ’ve seen a gold piece. We used to get 
the broad joes in the old war, as plenty as the bears be 
now. I remember there was a man in Dieskau’s army, 
that was killed, who had a dozen of the shining things 
sewed up in his shirt. I did n’t handle them myself, but 
I seen them cut out with my own eyes ; they was bigger 
and brighter than them be. 55 

“These are English guineas, and are yours, 55 said Eliza- 
beth; “an earnest of what shall be done for you. 55 

“ Me ! why should you give me this treasure 1 55 said 
Natty, looking earnestly at the maiden. 

“ Why ! have you not saved my life ? did you not res- 
cue me from the jaws of the beast 1 55 exclaimed Elizabeth, 
veiling her eyes, as if to hide some hideous object from 
her view. 


THE PIONEERS 


407 


The hunter took the money, and continued turning it 
in his hand for some time, piece by piece, talking aloud 
during the operation. 

“There’s a rifle, they say, out on the Cherry Valley 
that will carry a hundred rods and kill. I ’ve seen good 
guns in my day, hut none quite equal to that. A hun- 
dred rods with any sartainty is great shooting! Well, 
well — I ’m old, and the gun I have will answer my time. 
Here, child, take back your gold. But the hour has come; 
I hear him talking to the cattle, and I must be going. 
You won’t tell of us, gal — you won’t tell of us, will ye ? ” 

“Tell of you!” echoed Elizabeth. “But take the 
money, old man; take the money, even if you go into the 
mountains. ” 

“No, no,” said Natty, shaking his head kindly; “I 
would not rob you so for twenty rifles. But there ’s one 
thing you can do for me, if ye will, that no other is at 
hand to do.” 

“Name it — name it.” 

“Why, it’s only to buy a canister of powder; ’twill 
cost two silver dollars. Benny Pump has the money ready 
but we daren’t come into the town to get it. Nobody 
has it but the Frenchman. ’T is of the best, and just 
suits a rifle. Will you get it for me, gal? say, will you 
get it for me ? ” 

“Will I! I will bring it to you, Leather- Stocking, 
though I toil a day in quest of you through the woods. 
But where shall I find you, and how ? ” 

“ Where ! ” said Natty, musing a moment; “to-morrow, 
on the Vision; oh the very top of the Vision, I ’ll meet 
you, child, just as the sun gets over our heads. See that 
it’s the fine grain; you’ll know it by the gloss and the 
price. ” 

“I will do it,” said Elizabeth, firmly. 

Natty now seated himself, and, placing his feet in the 
hole, with a slight effort he opened a passage through into 
the street. The ladies heard the rustling of hay, and well 
understood the reason why Edwards was in the capacity of 
a teamster. 


408 


THE PIONEERS 


“Come, Benny,” said the hunter; “ ’twill be no darker 
to-night, for the moon will rise in an hour.” 

“Stay!” exclaimed Elizabeth; “it should not be said 
that you escaped in the presence of the daughter of Judge 
Temple. Return, Leather- Stocking, and let us retire, 
before you execute your plan.” 

Natty was about to reply, when the approaching foot- 
steps of the jailer announced the necessity of his immedi- 
ate return. He had barely time to regain his feet, and to 
conceal the hole with the bedclothes, across which Benja- 
min very opportunely fell, before the key was turned, and 
the door of the apartment opened. 

“ Is n’t Miss Temple ready to go 1 ” said the civil jailer: 
“it ’s the usual hour for locking up.” 

“I follow you, sir,” returned Elizabeth, “good-night, 
Leather-Stocking. ” 

“It’s a fine grain, gal, and I think ’twill carry lead 
further than common. I am getting old, and can’t follow 
up the game with the step that I used to could.” 

Miss Temple waved her hand for silence, and preceded 
Louisa and the keeper from the apartment. The man 
turned the key once, and observed that he would return 
and secure his prisoners, when he had lighted the ladies 
to the street. Accordingly, they parted at the door of the 
building, when the jailer retired to his dungeons, and the 
ladies walked, with throbbing hearts, towards the corner. 

“Now the Leather- Stocking refuses the money,” whis- 
pered Louisa, “it can all be given to Mr. Edwards, and 
that added to ” — 

“ Listen ! ” said Elizabeth ; “ I hear the rustling of the 
hay; they are escaping at this moment. Oh! they will 
be detected instantly ! ” 

By this time they were at the corner, where Edwards 
and Natty were in the act of drawing the almost helpless 
body of Benjamin through the aperture. The oxen had 
started hack from their hay, and were standing with their 
heads down the street, leaving room for the party to act 
in. 

“Throw the hay into the cart,” said Edwards, “or they 


THE PIONEERS 


409 


will suspect how it has been done. Quick, that they may 
not see it.” 

Natty had just returned from executing this order, when 
the light of the keeper’s candle shone through the hole, 
and instantly his voice was heard in the jail, exclaiming 
for his prisoners. 

“ What is to be done now ? ” said Edwards ; “ this drunken 
fellow will cause our detection, and we have not a moment 
to spare.” 

“Who ’s drunk, ye lubber! ” muttered the steward. 

“A break- jail! a break-jail! ” shouted five or six voices 
from within. 

“We must leave him,” said Edwards. 

“’T would n’t he kind, lad,” returned Natty; “he took 
half the disgrace of the stocks on himself to-day, and the 
creatur’ has feeling.” 

At this moment two or three men were heard issuing 
from the door of the Bold Dragoon, and among them the 
voice of Billy Kirby. 

“There ’s no moon yet,” cried the wood-chopper; “but 
it ’s a clear night. Come, who ’s for home 1 ? Hark! what 
a rumpus they ’re kicking up in the jail — here ’s go and 
see what it ’s about.” 

“We shall be lost,” said Edwards, “if we don’t drop 
this man.” 

At that moment Elizabeth moved close to him, and said 
rapidly, in a low voice : — 

“Lay him in the cart, and start the oxen; no one will 
look there.” 

“There’s a woman’s quickness in the thought,” said 
the youth. 

The proposition was no sooner made than executed. 
The steward was seated on the hay, and enjoined to hold 
his peace, and apply the goad that was placed in his hand, 
while the oxen were urged on. So soon as this arrange- 
ment was completed, Edwards and the hunter stole along 
the houses for a short distance, when they disappeared 
through an opening that led into the rear of the buildings. 
The oxen were in brisk motion, and presently the cries of 


410 


THE PIONEEKS 


pursuit were heard in the street. The ladies quickened 
their pace, with a wish to escape the crowd of constables 
and idlers that were approaching, some execrating, and 
some laughing at the exploit of the prisoners. In the 
confusion, the voice of Kirby was plainly distinguishable 
above all the others, shouting and swearing that he would 
have the fugitives, threatening to bring back Natty in one 
pocket, and Benjamin in the other. 

“ Spread yourselves, men,” he cried, as he passed the 
ladies, his heavy feet sounding along the street like the 
tread of a dozen; “spread yourselves; to the mountains; 
they T1 be in the mountain in a quarter of an hour, and 
then look out for a long rifle. ” 

His cries were echoed from twenty mouths, for not only 
the jail, but the taverns had sent forth their numbers, 
some earnest in the pursuit, and others joining it as in 
sport. 

As Elizabeth turned in at her father’s gate, she saw the 
wood- chopper stop at the cart, when she gave Benjamin 
up for lost. While they were hurrying up the walk, two 
figures, stealing cautiously hut quickly under the shades of 
the trees, met the eyes of the ladies, and in a moment 
Edwards and the hunter crossed their path. 

“Miss Temple, I may never see you again,” exclaimed 
the youth; “let me thank you for all your kindness; you 
do not, cannot know my motives.” 

“ Ely ! fly ! ” cried Elizabeth : “ the village is alarmed. 
Do not be found conversing with me at such a moment, 
and in these grounds.” 

“Nay, I must speak, though detection were certain.” 

“ Your retreat to the bridge is already cut off ; before you 
can gain the wood your pursuers will be there. If ” — 

“If what? ” cried the youth. “Your advice has saved 
me once already; I will follow it to death.” 

“The street is now silent and vacant,” said Elizabeth, 
after a pause; “cross it, and you will find my father’s 
boat in the lake. It would be easy to land from it where 
you please in the hills.” 

“But Judge Temple might complain of the trespass.” 


THE PIONEERS 


411 


“His daughter shall he accountable, sir.” 

The youth uttered something in a low voice, that was 
heard only by Elizabeth, and turned to execute what she 
had suggested. As they were separating, Natty approached 
the females, and said : — 

“ You ’ll remember the canister of powder, children. 
Them beavers must he had, and I and the pups be getting 
old; we want the best of ammunition.” 

“Come, Natty,” said Edwards, impatiently. 

“Copiing, lad, coming. God bless you, young ones, 
both of ye, for ye mean well and kindly to the old man.” 

The ladies paused until they had lost sight of the retreat- 
ing figures, when they immediately entered the Mansion- 
house. 

While this scene was passing in the walk, Kirby had 
overtaken the cart, which was his own, and had been 
driven by Edwards, without asking the owner, from the 
place where the patient oxen usually stood at evening, 
waiting the pleasure of their master. 

“Woa — come hither, Golden,” he cried; “why, how 
come you off the end of the bridge, where I left you, 
dummies ? ” 

“Heave ahead!” muttered Benjamin, giving a random 
blow with his lash, that alighted on the shoulder of the 
other. 

“ Who the devil he you 1 ” cried Billy, turning round in 
surprise, but unable to distinguish, in the dark, the hard 
visage that was just peering over the cart-rails. 

“Who he I 1 ? why, I’m helmsman aboard of this here 
craft, d’ ye see, and a straight wake I ’m making of it. 
Aye, aye! I ’ve got the bridge right ahead, and the bilboes 
dead aft ; I calls that good steerage, boy. Heave ahead ! ” 

“Lay your lash in the right spot, Mr. Benny Pump,” 
said the wood-chopper, “or I’ll put you in the palm of 
my hand, and box your ears. Where be you going with 
my team ? ” 

“Team!” 

“Aye, my cart and oxen.” 

“Why, you must know, Master Kirby, that the Lea- 


412 


THE PIONEERS 


ther-Stocking and I — that’s Benny Pump — yon knows 
Ben ? — well, Benny and I — no, me and Benny ; damme 
if I know how ’tis; hut some of us are bound after a 
cargo of beaver-skins, d’ ye see, and so we ’ve pressed the 
cart to ship them ’ome in. I say, Master Kirby, what a 
lubberly oar you pull — you handle an oar, hoy, pretty 
much as a cow would a musket, or a lady would a mar- 
ling-spike. ” 

Billy had discovered the state of the steward’s mind, 
and he walked for some time alongside of the cart, musing 
with himself, when he took the goad from Benjamin (who 
fell hack on the hay and was soon asleep), and drove his 
cattle down the street, over the bridge, and up the moun- 
tain, towards a clearing, in which he was to work the next 
day, without any other interruption than a few hasty 
questions from parties of the constables. 

Elizabeth stood for an hour at the window of her room, 
and saw the torches of the pursuers gliding along the side 
of the mountain, and heard their shouts and alarms ; but, 
at the end of that time, the last party returned, wearied 
and disappointed, and the village became as still as when 
she issued from the gate on her mission to the jail. 

CHAPTEE XXXYI. 

“ And I could weep ” — th’ Oneida chief 
His descant wildly thus begun — 

“ But that I may not stain with grief 
The death song of my father’s son.” 

Thomas Campbell : Gertrude of Wyoming , III. xxxv. 


It was yet early on the following morning, when Eliza- 
beth and Louisa met by appointment, and proceeded to 
the store of Monsieur Le Quoi, in order to redeem the 
pledge the former had given to the Leather-Stocking. 
The people were again assembling for the business of the 
day, but the hour was too soon for a crowd, and the ladies 
found the place in possession of its polite owner, Billy 
Kirby, one female customer, and the boy who did the 
duty of helper or clerk. 


THE PIONEERS 


413 


Monsieur Le Quoi was perusing a packet of letters with 
manifest delight, while the wood-chopper, with one hand 
thrust in his bosom, and the other in the folds of his 
jacket, holding an axe under his right arm, stood sympa- 
thizing in the Frenchman’s pleasure with good-natured 
interest. The freedom of manners that prevailed in the 
new settlements commonly leveled all difference in rank, 
and with it, frequently, all considerations of education and 
intelligence. At the time the ladies entered the store, they 
were unseen by the owner, who was saying to Kirby : — 

“ Ah ! ha ! Monsieur Beel, dis lettair mak me de most 
happi of mans. Ah! ma chere France! I vill see you 
aga’n.” 

“I rejoice, Monsieur, at anything that contributes to 
your happiness,” said Elizabeth, “but hope we are not 
going to lose you entirely.” 

The complaisant shopkeeper changed the language to 
French, and recounted rapidly to Elizabeth his hopes of 
being permitted to return to his own country. Habit had, 
however, so far altered the manners of this pliable person- 
age, that he continued to serve the wood-chopper, who 
was in quest of some tobacco, while he related to his more 
gentle visitor the happy change that had taken place in 
the dispositions of his own countrymen. 

The amount of it all was, that Mr. Le Quoi, who had 
fled from his own country more through terror than be- 
cause he was offensive to the ruling powers in France, had 
succeeded at length in getting an assurance that his return 
to the West Indies would be unnoticed; and the French- 
man, who had sunk into the character of a country shop- 
keeper with so much grace, was about to emerge again 
from his obscurity into his proper level in society. 

We need not repeat the civil things that passed between 
the parties on this occasion, nor recount the endless repeti- 
tions of sorrow that the delighted Frenchman expressed, at 
being compelled to quit the society of Miss Temple. Eliz- 
abeth took an opportunity, during this expenditure of po- 
lite expressions, to purchase the powder privately of the 
boy, who bore the generic appellation of Jonathan. Be- 


414 


THE PIONEERS 


fore they parted, however, Mr. Le Quoi, who seemed to 
think that he had not said enough, solicited the honor of 
a private interview with the heiress, with a gravity in his 
air that announced the importance of the subject. After 
conceding the favor, and appointing a more favorable time 
for the meeting, Elizabeth succeeded in getting out of the 
store, into which the countrymen now began to enter, as 
usual, where they met with the same attention and bien- 
seance as formerly. 

Elizabeth and Louisa pursued their walk as far as the 
bridge in profound silence; but when they reached that 
place, the latter stopped, and appeared anxious to utter 
something that her diffidence suppressed. 

“Are you ill, Louisa ? ” exclaimed Miss Temple; “had 
we not better return, and seek another opportunity to 
meet the old man 1 ” 

“Not ill, terrified. Oh! I never, never can go on that 
hill again with you only. I am not equal to it, indeed I 
am not.” 

This was an unexpected declaration to Elizabeth, who, 
although she experienced no idle apprehension of a danger 
that no longer existed, felt most sensitively all the deli- 
cacy of maiden modesty. She stood for some time, deeply 
reflecting within herself; but, sensible it was a time for 
action instead of reflection, she struggled to shake off her 
hesitation, and replied firmly : — 

“Well, then it must be done by me alone. There is 
no other than yourself to be trusted, or poor old Leather- 
Stocking will be discovered. Wait for me in the edge of 
these woods, that at least I may not be seen strolling in 
the hills by myself just now. One would not wish to 
create remarks, Louisa — if — if — You will wait for me, 
dear girl ? ” 

“A year, in sight of the village, Miss Temple,” re- 
turned the agitated Louisa, “but do not, do not ask me 
to go on that hill.” 

Elizabeth found that her companion was really unable to 
proceed, and they completed their arrangement by posting 
Louisa out of the observation of the people who occasion- 


THE PIONEERS 


415 


ally passed, but nigh the road, and in plain view of the 
whole valley. Miss Temple then proceeded alone. She 
ascended the road which has been so often mentioned in 
our narrative with an elastic and firm step, fearful that 
the delay in the store of Mr. Le Quoi, and the time neces- 
sary for reaching the summit, would prevent her being 
punctual to the appointment. Whenever she passed an 
opening in the bushes, she would pause for breath, or per- 
haps drawn from her pursuit by the picture at her feet, 
would linger a moment to gaze at the beauties of the val- 
ley. The long drought had, however, changed its coat of 
verdure to a hue of brown, and, though the same localities 
were there, the view wanted the lively and cheering aspect 
of early summer. Even the heavens seemed to share in 
the dried appearance of the earth, for the sun was con- 
cealed by a haziness in the atmosphere, which looked like 
a thin smoke without a particle of moisture, if such a thing 
were possible. The blue sky was scarcely to be seen, 
though now and then there was a faint lighting up in 
spots, through which masses of rolling vapor could be dis- 
cerned gathering around the horizon, as if nature were 
struggling to collect her floods for the relief of man. The 
very atmosphere that Elizabeth inhaled was hot and dry, 
and by the time she reached the point where the course 
led her from the highway, she experienced a sensation like 
suffocation. But, disregarding her feelings, she hastened 
to execute her mission, dwelling on nothing but the disap- 
pointment and even the helplessness the hunter would 
experience without her aid. 

On the summit of the mountain which Judge Temple 
had named the “Vision,” a little spot had been cleared, 
in order that a better view might be obtained of the vil- 
lage and the valley. At this point Elizabeth understood 
the hunter she was to meet him ; and thither she urged her 
way, as expeditiously as the difficulty of the ascent, and 
the impediments of a forest in a state of nature, would 
admit. Numberless were the fragments of rocks, trunks 
of fallen trees, and branches, with which she had to con- 
tend; but every difficulty vanished before her resolution, 


416 


THE PIONEERS 


and by her own watch, she stood on the desired spot sev- 
eral minutes before the appointed hour. 

After resting a moment on the end of a log, Miss Tem- 
ple cast a glance about her in quest of her old friend, but 
he was evidently not in the clearing ; she arose and walked 
around its skirts, examining every place where she thought 
it probable Natty might deem it prudent to conceal him- 
self. Her search was fruitless; and, after exhausting not 
only herself, but her conjectures, in efforts to discover or 
imagine his situation, she ventured to trust her voice in 
that solitary place. 

“Natty ! Leather-Stocking! old man! ” she called aloud, 
in every direction; but no answer was given, excepting 
the reverberations of her own clear tones, as they were 
echoed in the parched forest. 

Elizabeth approached the brow of the mountain, where 
a faint cry, like the noise produced by striking the hand 
against the mouth, at the same time that the breath is 
strongly exhaled, was heard answering to her own voice. 
Not doubting in the least that it was the Leather-Stocking 
lying in wait for her, and who gave that signal to indicate 
the place where he was to be found, Elizabeth descended 
for near a hundred feet, until she gained a little natural 
terrace, thinly scattered with trees, that grew in the fis- 
sures of the rocks, which were covered by a scanty soil. 
She had advanced to the edge of this platform, and was 
gazing over the perpendicular precipice that formed its 
face, when a rustling among the dry leaves near her drew 
her eyes in another direction. Our heroine certainly was 
startled by the object that she then saw, but a moment re- 
stored her self-possession, and she advanced firmly, and 
with some interest in her manner, to the spot. 

Mohegan was seated on the trunk of a fallen oak, with 
his tawny visage turned towards her, and his eyes fixed 
on her face with an expression of wildness and fire that 
would have terrified a less resolute female. His blanket 
had fallen from his shoulders, and was lying in folds 
around him, leaving his breast, arms, and most of his body 
bare. The medallion of Washington reposed on his chest, 


THE PIONEERS 


417 


a badge of distinction that Elizabeth well knew he only- 
produced on great and solemn occasions. But the whole 
appearance of the aged chief was more studied than com- 
mon, and in some particulars it was terrific. The long 
black hair was plaited on his head, falling away so as to 
expose his high forehead and piercing eyes. In the enor- 
mous incisions of his ears were entwined ornaments of sil- 
ver, beads, and porcupine’s quills, mingled in a rude taste, 
and after the Indian fashions. A large drop, composed 
of similar materials, was suspended from the cartilage of 
his nose, and, falling below his lips, rested on his chin. 
Streaks of red paint crossed his wrinkled brow, and were 
traced down his cheeks, with such variations in the lines 
as caprice or custom suggested. His body was also col- 
ored in the same manner; the whole exhibiting an Indian 
warrior, prepared for some event of more than usual mo- 
ment. 

“ John ! how fare you, worthy John 1 ” said Elizabeth, 
as she approached him; “you have long been a stranger 
in the village. You promised me a willow basket, and 
I have long had a shirt of calico in readiness for you.” 

The Indian looked steadily at her for some time with- 
out answering, and then, shaking his head, he replied, in 
his low, guttural tones : — 

“John’s hand can make baskets no more — he wants 
no shirt.” 

“But if he should, he will know where to come for it,” 
returned Miss Temple. “Indeed, old John, I feel as if 
you had a natural right to order what you will from us.” 

“Daughter,” said the Indian, “listen: Six times ten 
hot summers have passed since John was young; tall like 
a pine ; straight like the bullet of Hawkeye ; strong as the 
buffalo; spry as the cat of the mountain. He was strong, 
and a warrior like the Young Eagle. If his tribe wanted 
to track the Maquas for many suns, the eye of Chingach- 
gook found the print of their moccasins. If the people 
feasted and were glad, as they counted the scalps of their 
enemies, it was on his pole they hung. Jf the squaws 
cried because there was no meat for their children, he was 


418 


THE PIONEERS 


the first in the chase. His bullet was swifter than the 
deer. Daughter, then Chingachgook struck his tomahawk 
into the trees; it was to tell the lazy ones where to find 
him and the Mingos — hut he made no baskets. ” 

“Those times have gone by, old warrior,” returned 
Elizabeth ; “ since then your people have disappeared, and, 
in place of chasing your enemies, you have learned to fear 
God and to live at peace.” 

“Stand here, daughter, where you can see the great 
spring, the wigwams of your father, and the land on the 
Crooked River. John was young when his tribe gave 
away the country, in council, from where the blue moun- 
tain stands above the water, to where the Susquehanna is 
hid by the trees. All this, and all that grew in it, and 
all that walked over it, and all that fed there, they gave 
to the Fire-eater — for they loved him. He was strong,' 
and they were women, and he helped them. No Dela- 
ware would kill a deer that ran in his woods, nor stop a 
bird that flew over his land: for it was his. Has John 
lived in peace ? Daughter, since John was young, he has 
seen the white man from Frontenac come down on his 
white brothers at Albany and fight. Did they fear God 1 ? 
He has seen his English and his American fathers burying 
their tomahawks in each other’s brains, for this very land. 
Did they fear God, and live in peace? He has seen the 
land pass away from the Fire-eater, and his children, and 
the child of his child, and a new chief set over the coun- 
try. Did they live in peace who did this ? did they fear 
God?” 

“Such is the custom of the whites, John. Do not the 
Delawares fight, and exchange their lands for powder, and 
blankets, and merchandise ? ” 

The Indian turned his dark eyes on his companion, and 
kept them there with a scrutiny that alarmed her a little. 

“Where are the blankets and merchandise that bought 
the right of the Fire-eater?” he replied, in a more ani- 
mated voice; “are they with him in his wigwam? Did 
they say to him, Brother, sell us your land, and take this 
gold, this silver, these blankets, these rifles, or even this 


THE PIONEEKS 


419 


rum? No; they tore it from him, as a scalp is torn from 
an enemy; and they that did it looked not behind them, 
to see whether he lived or died. Do such men live in 
peace, and fear the Great Spirit ? ” 

“But you hardly understand the circumstances,” said 
Elizabeth, more embarrassed than she would own, even 
to herself. “If you knew our laws and customs better, 
you would judge differently of our acts. Do not believe 
evil of my father, old Mohegan, for he is just and good.” 

“The brother of Miquon is good, and he will do right. 
I have said it to Hawkeye — I have said it to the Young 
Eagle, that the brother of Miquon would do justice.” 

“ Whom call you the Young Eagle ? ” said Elizabeth, 
averting her face from the gaze of the Indian, as she asked 
the question; “whence comes he, and what are his rights ? ” 

“ Has my daughter lived so long with him to ask this 
question ? ” returned the Indian warily. “ Old age freezes 
up the blood, as the frosts cover the great spring in win- 
ter; but youth keeps the streams of the blood open like a 
sun in the time of blossoms. The Young Eagle has eyes; 
had he no tongue ? ” 

The loveliness to which the old warrior alluded was in 
no degree diminished by his allegorical speech; for the 
blushes of the maiden who listened covered her burn- 
ing cheeks, till her dark eyes seemed to glow with their re- 
flection; but, after struggling a moment with shame, she 
laughed as if unwilling to understand him seriously, and 
replied in pleasantry : — 

“Not to make me the mistress of his secret. He is too 
much of a Delaware to tell his secret thoughts to a wo- 
man. ” 

“ Daughter, the Great Spirit made your father with a 
white skin, and he made mine with a red; but he colored 
both their hearts with blood. When young, it is swift 
and warm; but when old, it is still and cold. Is there 
difference below the skin? No. Once John had a wo- 
man. She was the mother of so many sons ” — he raised 
his hand with three fingers elevated — “ and she had daugh- 
ters that would have made the young Delawares happy. 


420 


THE PIONEERS 


She was kind, daughter, and what I said she did. You 
have different fashions; but do you think John did not 
love the wife of his youth — the mother of his children ? ” 

“ And what has become of your family, John, your wife 
and your children 1 ” asked Elizabeth, touched by the In- 
dian’s manner. 

“ Where is the ice that covered the great spring 1 It is 
melted, and gone with the waters. John has lived till all 
his people have left him for the land of spirits; his time 
has come, and he is ready.” 

Mohegan dropped his head in his blanket, and sat in 
silence. Miss Temple knew not what to say. She wished 
to draw the thoughts of the old warrior from his gloomy 
recollections, hut there was a dignity in his sorrow, and in 
his fortitude, that repressed her efforts to speak. After 
a long pause, however, she renewed the discourse, by ask- 
ing:— 

“ Where is the Leather-Stocking, John 1 I have brought 
this canister of powder at his request; hut he is nowhere 
to be seen. Will you take charge of it, and see it deliv- 
ered ? ” 

The Indian raised his head slowly, and looked earnestly 
at the gift, which she put into his hand. 

“This is the great enemy of my nation. Without this 
when could the white men drive the Delawares ? Daugh- 
ter, the Great Spirit gave your fathers to know how to 
make guns and powder, that they might sweep the Indians 
from the land. There will soon be no redskin in the 
country. When John is gone, the last will leave these 
hills, and his family will be dead.” The aged warrior 
stretched his body forward, leaning an elbow on his knee, 
and appeared to be taking a parting look at the objects of 
the vale, which were still visible through the misty atmo- 
sphere, though the air seemed to thicken at each moment 
around Miss Temple, who became conscious of an increased 
difficulty of respiration. The eye of Mohegan changed 
gradually from its sorrowful expression to a look of wild- 
ness that might be supposed to border on the inspiration 
of a prophet, as he continued, “But he will go to the 


THE PIONEERS 


421 


country where his fathers have met. The game shall he 
plenty as the fish in the lakes. No woman shall cry for 
meat; no Mingo can ever come. The chase shall be for 
children; and all just red-men shall live together as bro- 
thers. 99 

“John! this is not the heaven of a Christian!” cried 
Miss Temple; “you deal now in the superstition of your 
forefathers. ” 

“ Fathers ! sons ! 99 said Mohegan with firmness, “ all 
gone — all gone! I have no son but the Young Eagle 
and he has the blood of a white man.” 

“Tell me, John,” said Elizabeth, willing to draw his 
thoughts to other subjects, and at the same time yielding 
to her own powerful interest in the youth; “who is this 
Mr. Edwards? why are you so fond of him, and whence 
does he come ? ” 

The Indian started at the question, which evidently 
recalled his recollection to earth. Taking her hand, he 
drew Miss Temple to a seat beside him, and pointed to 
the country beneath them : — 

“See, daughter,” he said, directing her looks towards 
the north ; “ as far as your young eyes can see, it was the 
land of his ” — 

But immense volumes of smoke at that moment rolled 
over their heads, and, whirling in the eddies formed by 
the mountains, interposed a barrier to their sight, while 
he was speaking. Startled by this circumstance, Miss 
Temple sprang on her feet, and turning her eyes towards 
the summit of the mountain, she beheld it covered by a 
similar canopy, while a roaring sound was heard in the 
forest above her like the rushing of winds. 

“What means it, John?” she exclaimed; “we are en- 
veloped in smoke, and I feel a heat like the glow of a 
furnace. ” 

Before the Indian could reply, a voice was heard crying 
in the woods : — 

“John! where are you, old Mohegan! the woods are 
on fire, and you have but a minute for escape.” 

The chief put his hand before his mouth, and making 


422 


THE PIONEERS 


it play on his lips, produced the kind of noise that had 
attracted Elizabeth to the place, when a quick and hurried 
step was heard dashing through the dried underbrush and 
bushes, and presently Edwards rushed to his side, with 
horror in every feature. 


CHAPTEE XXXVII. 


Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. 

Walter Scott : Lay of the Last Minstrel , III. ii. 


“It would have been sad, indeed, to lose you in such a 
manner, my old friend,” said Oliver, catching his breath 
for utterance. “Up and away! even now we may be too 
late; the flames are circling round the point of the rock 
below — and, unless we can pass there, our only chance 
must be over the precipice. Away ! away ! 1 shake off 
your apathy, John; now is the time of need.” 

Mohegan pointed towards Elizabeth, who, forgetting 
her danger, had shrunk back to a projection of the rock 
as soon as she recognized the sounds of Edwards’ voice, 
and said with something like awakened animation : — 

“Save her — leave John to die.” 

“ Her ! whom mean you ? ” cried the youth, turning 
quickly to the place the other indicated : but when he saw 
the figure of Elizabeth bending towards him in an atti- 
tude that powerfully spoke terror, blended with reluctance 
to meet him in such a place, the shock deprived him of 
speech. 

“Miss Temple! ” he cried, when he found words; “you 
here ! is such a death reserved for you ! ” 

1 It has been doubted whether life could be really endangered by these 
forest fires. But the present generation, after reading of all the horrors 
of the fires in Wisconsin and Michigan during the terrible drought of the 
summer of 1871, can unhappily no longer doubt on this subject. In the 
early j’-ears of the settlement on Lake Otsego, there was a fire of this kind 
especially terrible, when the entire lake shores and the village were sur- 
rounded by a network of flame. The writer of this note has received an 
account of that fire from a near relative. The effect was described as ter- 
rific, and for a short time the danger to the village was serious. — S. F. C. 


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423 


“ No, no, no : no death, I hope, for any of us, Mr. Ed- 
wards,” she replied, endeavoring to speak calmly: “there 
is smoke, but no fire to harm us. Let us endeavor to re- 
tire. ” 

“Take my arm,” said Edwards; “there must he an 
opening in some direction for your retreat. Are you 
equal to the effort? ” 

“Certainly. You surely magnify the danger, Mr. Ed- 
wards. Lead me out the way you came.” 

“I will — I will,” cried the youth with a kind of hy- 
sterical utterance. “No, no; there is no danger — I have 
alarmed you unnecessarily.” 

“ But shall we leave the Indian — can we leave him, as 
he says, to die ? ” 

An expression of painful emotion crossed the face of 
the young man; he stopped, and cast a longing look at 
Mohegan; but, dragging his companion after him, even 
against her will, he pursued his way with enormous strides 
towards the pass by which he had just entered the circle 
of flame. 

“ Do not regard him, ” he said, in those tones that de- 
note a desperate calmness; “he is used to the woods, and 
such scenes ; and he will escape up the mountain — over 
the rock — or he can remain where he is in safety. ” 

“ You thought not so this moment, Edwards ! Do not 
leave him there to meet with such a death,” cried Eliza- 
beth, fixing a look on the countenance of her conductor 
that seemed to distrust his sanity. 

“An Indian burn! who ever heard of an Indian dying 
by fire ? — an Indian cannot burn ; the idea is ridiculous. 
Hasten, hasten, Miss Temple, or the smoke may incom- 
mode you.” 

“Edwards! your look, your eye, terrifies me! tell me 
the danger ; is it greater than it seems ? Iam equal to any 
trial. ” 

“ If we reach the point of yon rock before that sheet of 
fire, we are safe, Miss Temple ! ” exclaimed the young 
man, in a voice that burst without the bounds of his forced 
composure. “ Fly ! the struggle is for life ! ” 


424 


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The place of the interview between^ Miss Temple and 
the Indian has already been described a*? one of those plat- 
forms of rock, which form a sort of terrace in the moun- 
tains of that country, and the face of it, we have said, was 
both high and perpendicular. Its shape was nearly a nat- 
ural arc, the ends of which blended with the mountain at 
points where its sides were less abrupt in their descent. 
It was round one of these terminations of the sweep of 
the rock that Edwards had ascended, and it was towards 
the same place that he urged Elizabeth to a desperate ex- 
ertion of speed. 

Immense clouds of white smoke had been pouring over 
the summit of the mountain, and had concealed the ap- 
proach and ravages of the element; but a crackling sound 
drew the eyes of Miss Temple, as she flew over the ground, 
supported by the young man, towards the outline of smoke, 
where she already perceived the waving flames shooting 
forward from the vapor, now flaring high in the air, and 
then bending to the earth, seeming to light into combus- 
tion every stick and shrub on which they breathed. The 
sight aroused them to redoubled efforts ; but unfortunately 
a collection of the tops of trees, old and dried, lay directly 
across their course; and, at the very moment when both 
had thought their safety insured, the warm currents of 
the air swept a forked tongue of flame across the pile, 
which lighted at the touch; and when they reached the 
spot, the flying pair were opposed by the surly roaring of 
a body of fire, as if a furnace were glowing in their path. 
They recoiled from the heat, and stood on a point of the 
rock, gazing in a stupor at the flames, which were spread- 
ing rapidly down the mountain, whose side soon became 
a sheet of living fire. It was dangerous for one clad in 
the light and airy dress of Elizabeth to approach even the 
vicinity of the raging element; and those flowing robes, 
that gave such softness and grace to her form, seemed now 
to be formed for the instruments of her destruction. 

The villagers were accustomed to resort to that hill in 
quest of timber and fuel; in procuring which, it was their 
usage to take only the bodies of the trees, leaving the 


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425 


tops and branches to decay under the operations of the 
weather. Much of the hill was, consequently, covered 
with such light fuel, which, having been scorched under 
the sun for the last two months, was ignited with a touch. 
Indeed, in some cases, there did not appear to be any con- 
tact between the fire and these piles, but the flames seemed 
to dart from heap to heap, as the fabulous fire of the tem- 
ple is represented to reillume its neglected lamp. 

There was beauty as well as terror in the sight, and 
Edwards and Elizabeth stood viewing the progress of the 
desolation with a strange mixture of horror and interest. 
The former, however, shortly roused himself to new exer- 
tions, and drawing his companion after him, they skirted 
the edge of the smoke, the young man penetrating fre- 
quently into its dense volumes in search of a passage, but 
in every instance without success. In this manner they 
proceeded in a semicircle around the upper part of the ter- 
race, until, arriving at the verge of the precipice, opposite 
to the point where Edwards had ascended, the horrid con- 
viction burst on both at the same instant, that they were 
completely encircled by the fire. So long as a single pass 
up or down the mountain was unexplored, there was 
hope; but when retreat seemed to be absolutely impracti- 
cable, the horror of their situation broke upon Elizabeth as 
powerfully as if she had hitherto considered the danger 
light. 

“ This mountain is doomed to be fatal to me ! ” she 
whispered ; “ we shall find our graves on it ! ” 

“Say not so, Miss Temple; there is yet hope,” returned 
the youth, in the same tone, while the vacant expression 
of his eye contradicted his words; “let us return to the 
point of the rock ; there is — there must be — some place 
about it where we can descend.” 

“Lead me there,” exclaimed Elizabeth; “let us leave 
no effort untried.” She did not wait for his compliance, 
but, turning, retraced her steps to the brow of the preci- 
pice, murmuring to herself, in suppressed, hysterical sobs, 
“My father! my poor, my distracted father!” 

Edwards was by her side in an instant, and with aching 


426 


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eyes he examined every fissure in the crags, in quest of 
some opening that might offer facilities for flight. But 
the smooth, even surface of the rocks afforded hardly a 
resting-place for a foot, much less those continued projec- 
tions which would have been necessary for a descent of 
nearly a hundred feet. Edwards was not slow in feeling 
the conviction that this hope was also futile, and, with a 
kind of feverish despair that still urged him to action, he 
turned to some new expedient. 

“There is nothing left, Miss Temple,” he said, “but 
to lower you from this place to the rock beneath. If 
Natty were here, or even that Indian could be roused, 
their ingenuity and long practice would easily devise meth- 
ods to do it; but I am a child at this moment in every- 
thing but daring. Where shall I find means ? This dress 
of mine is so light, and there is so little of it — then the 
blanket of Mohegan — we must try — we must try — any- 
thing is better than to see you a victim to such a death ! ” 

“ And what will become of you ? ” said Elizabeth. “ In- 
deed, indeed, neither you nor John must be sacrificed to 
my safety.” 

He heard her not, for he was already by the side of Mo- 
hegan, who yielded his blanket without a question, retain- 
ing his seat with Indian dignity and composure, though 
his own situation was even more critical than that of the 
others. The blanket was cut into shreds, and the frag- 
ments fastened together; the loose linen jacket of the 
youth and the light muslin shawl of Elizabeth were at- 
tached to them, and the whole thrown over the rocks, with 
the rapidity of lightning; but the united pieces did not 
reach halfway to the bottom. 

“ It will not do — it will not do ! ” cried Elizabeth ; 
“for me there is no hope! The fire comes slowly, but 
certainly. See, it destroys the very earth before it ! ” 

Had the flames spread on that rock with half the quick- 
ness with which they leaped from bush to tree, in other 
parts of the mountain, our painful task would have soon 
ended; for they would have consumed already the cap- 
tives they inclosed. But the peculiarity of their situation 


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427 


afforded Elizabeth and her companion the respite of which 
they had availed themselves to make the efforts we have 
recorded. 

The thin covering of earth on the rock supported but a 
scanty and faded herbage, and most of the trees that had 
found root in the fissures had already died, during the in- 
tense heats of preceding summers. Those which still re- 
tained the appearance of life bore a few dry and withered 
leaves, while the others were merely the wrecks of pines, 
oaks, and maples. No better materials to feed the fire 
could be found, had there been a communication with the 
flames; but the ground was destitute of the brush that led 
the destructive element, like a torrent, over the remainder 
of the hill. As auxiliary to this scarcity of fuel, one of 
the large springs which abound in that country gushed 
out of the side of the ascent above, and, after creeping 
sluggishly along the level land, saturating the mossy cov- 
ering of the rock with moisture, it swept round the base 
of the little cone that formed the pinnacle of the mountain, 
and, entering the canopy of smoke near one of the termi- 
nations of the terrace, found its way to the lake, not by 
dashing from rock to rock, but by the secret channels of 
the earth. It would rise to the surface, here and there, 
in the wet seasons, but in the droughts of summer it was 
to be traced only by the bogs and moss that announced 
the proximity of water. When the fire reached this bar- 
rier, it was compelled to pause, until a concentration of 
its heat could overcome the moisture, like an army wait- 
ing the operations of a battering train to open its way to 
desolation. 

That fatal moment seemed now to have arrived, for 
the hissing steams of the spring appeared to be nearly 
exhausted, and the moss of the rocks was already curl- 
ing under the intense heat, while fragments of bark, that 
yet clung to the dead trees, began to separate from their 
trunks and fall to the ground in crumbling masses. The 
air seemed quivering with rays of heat, which might be 
seen playing along the parched stems of the trees. There 
were moments when dark clouds of smoke would sweep 


428 


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along the little terrace; and, as the eye lost its power, 
the other senses contributed to give effect to the fearful 
horror of the scene. At such moments, the roaring of the 
flames, the crackling of the furious element, with the 
tearing of falling branches, and, occasionally, the thunder- 
ing echoes of some falling tree, united to alarm the vic- 
tims. Of the three, however, the youth appeared much 
the most agitated. Elizabeth, having relinquished en- 
tirely the idea of escape, was fast obtaining that resigned 
composure with which the most delicate of her sex are 
sometimes known to meet unavoidable evils; while Mo- 
hegan, who was much nearer to the danger, maintained 
his seat with the invincible resignation of an Indian war- 
rior. Once or twice the eye of the aged chief, which 
was ordinarily fixed in the direction of the distant hills, 
turned towards the young pair, who seemed doomed to so 
early a death, with a slight indication of pity crossing his 
composed features, but it would immediately revert again 
to its former gaze, as if already looking into the womb of 
futurity. Much of the time he was chanting a kind of 
low dirge, in the Delaware tongue, — using the deep and 
remarkably guttural tones of his people. 

“At such a moment, Mr. Edwards, all earthly distinc- 
tions end,” whispered Elizabeth; “persuade John to move 
nearer to us ; let us die together. ” 

“I cannot — he will not stir,” returned the youth, in 
the same horridly still tones. “ He considers this as the 
happiest moment of his life. He is past seventy, and has 
been decaying rapidly for some time: he received some 
injury in chasing that unlucky deer, too, on the lake. 
Oh ! Miss Temple, that was an unlucky chase indeed ! it 
has led, I fear, to this awful scene.” 

The smile of Elizabeth was celestial. “Why name 
such a trifle now — at this moment the heart is dead to all 
earthly emotions ! ” 

“If anything could reconcile a man to this death,” cried 
the youth, “ it would be to meet it in such company ! ” 

“Talk not so, Edwards, talk not so,” interrupted Miss 
Temple. “I am unworthy of it; and it is unjust to your- 


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429 


self. We must die; yes, yes — we must die — it is the 
will of God, and let us endeavor to submit like his own 
children. ” 

“Die!” the youth rather shrieked than exclaimed, 
“No, no, no; there must yet be hope; you at least must 
not, shall not die ! ” 

“ In what way can we escape 1 ” asked Elizabeth, point- 
ing with a look of heavenly composure towards the fire. 
“ Observe ! the flame is crossing the harrier of wet ground 
— it comes slowly, Edwards, hut surely. Ah, see! the 
tree ! the tree is already lighted ! ” 

Her words were too true. The heat of the conflagra- 
tion had at length overcome the resistance of the spring, 
and the fire was slowly stealing along the half-dried moss, 
while a dead pine kindled with the touch of a forked 
flame, that for a moment wreathed around the stem of 
the tree, as it whirled, in one of its evolutions, under the 
influence of the air. The effect was instantaneous. The 
flames danced along the parched trunk of the pine like 
lightning quivering on a chain, and immediately a column 
of living fire was raging on the terrace. It soon spread 
from tree to tree : and the scene was evidently drawing to 
a close. The log on which Mohegan was seated lighted 
at its further end, and the Indian appeared to be sur- 
rounded by fire. Still he was unmoved. As his body 
was unprotected, his sufferings must have been great; hut 
his fortitude was superior to all. His voice could yet he 
heard even in the midst of these horrors. Elizabeth turned 
her head from the sight, and faced the valley. Furious 
eddies of wind were created by the heat, and just at the 
moment the canopy of fiery smoke that overhung the val- 
ley was cleared away, leaving a distinct view of the peace- 
ful village beneath them. 

“ My father ! — my father ! ” shrieked Elizabeth. “ Oh ! 
this — this surely might have been spared me — but I 
submit. ” 

The distance was not so great hut the figure of Judge 
Temple could be seen, standing in his own grounds, and 
apparently contemplating, in perfect unconsciousness of the 


430 


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danger of his child, the mountain in flames. This sight 
was still more painful than the approaching danger; and 
Elizabeth again faced the hill. 

“ My intemperate warmth has done this ! ” cried Ed- 
wards, in the accents of despair. “If I had possessed hut 
a moiety of your heavenly resignation, Miss Temple, all 
might yet have been well.” 

“Name it not — name it not,” she said. “It is now 
of no avail. We must die, Edwards, we must die — let us 
do so as Christians. But — no ; you may escape, perhaps. 
Your dress is not so fatal as mine. Ely, leave me! An 
opening may yet he found for you, possibly — certainly it 
is worth the effort. Ely ! leave me — but stay ! You will 
see my father ; my poor, my bereaved father ! Say to him, 
then, Edwards, say to him all that can appease his an- 
guish. Tell him that I died happy and collected; that I 
have gone to my beloved mother; that the hours of this 
life are as nothing when balanced in the scales of eternity. 
Say how we shall meet again. And say,” she continued, 
dropping her voice, that had risen with her feelings, as if 
conscious of her worldly weaknesses, “ how dear, how very 
dear, was my love for him; that it was near, too near, to 
my love for God.” 

The youth listened to her touching accents, but moved 
not. In a moment he found utterance, and replied : — 

“ And is it me that you command to leave you ! to leave 
you on the edge of the grave! Oh, Miss Temple, how 
little have you known me ! ” he cried, dropping on his 
knees at her feet, and gathering her flowing robe in his 
arms as if to shield her from the flames. “ I have been 
driven to the woods in despair; but your society has 
tamed the lion within me. If I have wasted my time in 
degradation, ’t was you that charmed me to it. If I have 
forgotten my name and family, your form supplied the 
place of memory. If I have forgotten my wrongs, ’t was 
you that taught me charity. No, no, dearest Elizabeth, 
I may die with you, but I can never leave you ! ” 

Elizabeth moved not, nor answered. It was plain that 
her thoughts had been raised from the earth. The recol- 


THE PIONEERS 


431 


lection of her father, and her regrets at their separation, 
had been mellowed by a holy sentiment that lifted her 
above the level of earthly things, and she was fast losing 
the weakness of her sex in the near view of eternity. But 
as she listened to these words she became once more wo- 
man. She struggled against these feelings, and smiled, as 
she thought she was shaking off the last lingering feeling 
of nature, when the world, and all its seductions, rushed 
again to her heart, with the sounds of a human voice, cry- 
ing in piercing tones : — • 

“Gal! where be ye, gal! gladden the heart of an old 
man, if ye yet belong to ’arth! ” 

“List!” said Elizabeth, “’tis the Leather- Stocking; 
he seeks me ! ” 

“ ’T is Natty!” shouted Edwards, “and we may yet be 
saved ! ” 

A wide and circling flame glared on their eyes for a 
moment, even above the fire of the woods, and a loud re- 
port followed. 

“’Tis the canister! ’tis the powder,” cried the same 
voice, evidently approaching them. “’Tis the canister, 
and the precious child is lost ! ” 

At the next instant Natty rushed through the streams of 
the spring and appeared on the terrace, without his deer- 
skin cap, his hair burnt to his head, his shirt, of country 
check, black and filled with holes, and his red features of 
a deeper color than ever by the heat he had encountered. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 


Even from the land of shadows, now, 

My father’s awful ghost appears. 

Thomas Campbell : Gertrude of Wyoming , III. xxxix. 


For an hour after Louisa Grant was left by Miss Tem- 
ple in the situation already mentioned, she continued in 
feverish anxiety, awaiting the return of her friend. But 
as the time passed by without the reappearance of Eliza- 
beth, the terror of Louisa gradually increased, until her 


432 


THE PIONEERS 


alarmed fancy had conjured every species of danger that 
appertained to the woods excepting the one that really ex- 
isted. The heavens had become obscured by degrees, and 
vast volumes of smoke were pouring over the valley; hut 
the thoughts of Louisa were still recurring to beasts, with- 
out dreaming of the real cause for apprehension. She was 
stationed in the edge of the low pines and chestnuts that 
succeed the first or large growth of the forest, and directly 
above the angle where the highway turned from the straight 
course to the village and ascended the mountain laterally. 
Consequently she commanded a view not only of the val- 
ley, but of the road beneath her. The few travelers that 
passed, she observed were engaged in earnest conversation, 
and frequently raised their eyes to the hill; and at length 
she saw the people leaving the court-house, and gazing 
upwards also. While under the influence of the alarm ex- 
cited by such unusual movements, reluctant to go, and yet 
fearful to remain, Louisa was startled by the low, crack- 
ing, but cautious treads of some one approaching through 
the bushes. She was on the eve of flight, when Natty 
emerged from the cover, and stood at her side. The old 
man laughed, as he shook her kindly by a hand that was 
passive with fear. 

“I am glad to meet you here, child,” he said; “for the 
back of the mountain is afire, and it would be dangerous to 
go up it now, till it has been burnt over once and the dead 
wood is gone. There ’s a foolish man, the comrade of that 
varmint who has given me all this trouble, digging for ore 
on the east side. I told him that the keerless fellows, 
who thought to catch a practyced hunter in the woods after 
dark, had thrown the lighted pine knots in the brush, and 
that ’t would kindle like tow, and warned him to leave 
the hill. But he was set upon his business, and nothing 
short of Providence could move him. If he is n’t burnt 
and buried in a grave of his own digging, he ’s made of 
salamanders. Why, what ails the child! you look as 
skeary as if you seed more painters ! I wish there were 
more to be found; they ’d count up faster than the beaver! 
But where ’s the good child of a bad father? did she for- 
get her promise to the old man ? ” 


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433 


“The hill! the hill!” shrieked Louisa ; “she seeks you 
on the hill with the powder ! ” 

Natty recoiled several feet at this unexpected intelli- 
gence. 

“ The Lord of heaven have mercy on her ! She 's on 
the Vision, and that ’s a sheet of fire agin this. Child, if 
ye love the dear one, and hope to find a friend when ye 
need it most, to the village and give the alarm! The 
men are used to fighting fire, and there may be a chance 
left. Fly ! I bid ye fly ! nor stop even for breath. ” 

The Leather- Stocking had no sooner uttered this injunc- 
tion than he disappeared in the bushes, and when last seen 
by Louisa was rushing up the mountain, with a speed that 
none but those who were accustomed to the toil could attain. 

“ Have I found ye ? ” the old man exclaimed, when he 
hurst out of the smoke; “God he praised that I 've found 
ye; but follow, — there ’s no time for talking.” 

“ My dress ! ” said Elizabeth ; “ it would be fatal to trust 
myself nearer to the flames in it.” 

“I bethought me of your flimsy things,” cried Natty, 
throwing loose the folds of a covering of buckskin that he 
carried on his arm, and wrapping her form in it, in such 
a manner as to envelop her whole person; “now follow, 
for it ’s a matter of life and death to us all.” 

“But John! what will become of John?” cried Ed- 
wards; “can we leave the old warrior here to perish? 

The eyes of Natty followed the direction of Edwards' 
finger, when he beheld the Indian, still seated as before, 
with the very earth under his feet consuming with fire. 
Without delay the hunter approached the spot, and spoke 
in Delaware : — 

“Up and away, Chingachgook ! will ye stay here to 
burn, like a Mingo at* the stake? The Moravians have 
teached ye better, I hope; the Lord preserve me if the 
powder hasn’t flashed at ween his legs, and the skin of his 
back is roasting. Will ye come, I say ; will ye follow ? ” 

“ Why should Mohegan go ? ” returned the Indian gloom- 
ily. “ He has seen the days of an eagle, and his eye grows 
dim. He looks on the valley ; he looks on the water ; he 


434 


THE PIONEERS 


looks in the hunting-grounds; hut he sees no Delawares. 
Every one has a white skin. My fathers say, from the 
far-off land, Come. My women, my young warriors, my 
tribe, say, Come. The Great Spirit says, Come. Let 
Mohegan die.” 

“But you forget your friend,” cried Edwards. 

“ ’T is useless to talk to an Indian with the death-fit on 
him, lad,” interrupted Natty, who seized the strips of the 
blanket, and with wonderful dexterity strapped the pas- 
sive chieftain to his own hack ; when he turned, and with 
a strength that seemed to bid defiance, not only to his 
years but to his load, he led the way to the point whence 
he had issued. As they crossed the little terrace of rock, 
one of the dead trees, that had been tottering for several 
minutes, fell on the spot where they had stood, and filled 
the air with its cinders. 

Such an event quickened the steps of the party, who 
followed the Leather- Stocking with the urgency required 
by the occasion. 

“Tread on the soft ground,” he cried, when they were 
in a gloom where sight availed them but little, “and keep 
in the white smoke; keep the skin close on her, lad; 
she ’s a precious one, another will he hard to he found.” 

Obedient to the hunter’s directions, they followed his 
steps and advice implicitly; and although the narrow pas- 
sage along the winding of the spring led amid burning logs 
and falling branches, they happily achieved it in safety. 
No one but a man long accustomed to the woods could 
have traced his route through a smoke in which respira- 
tion was difficult and sight nearly useless; hut the expe- 
rience of Natty conducted them to an opening through the 
rocks, where, with a little difficulty, they soon descended 
to another terrace and emerged at once into a tolerably 
clear atmosphere. 

The feelings of Edwards and Elizabeth at reaching this 
spot may be imagined, though not easily described. No 
one seemed to exult more than their guide, who turned, 
with Mohegan still lashed to his hack, and laughing in his 
own manner, said : — 


THE PIONEERS 


435 


“I knowed ’t was the Frenchman’s powder, gal; it went 
so all together; your coarse grain will squib for a minute. 
The Iroquois had none of the best powder when I went 
agin the Canada tribes, under Sir William. Did I ever 
tell you the story, lad, consarning the scrimmage with ” — 

“For God’s sake, tell me nothing now, Natty, until we 
are entirely safe. Where shall we go next ? ” 

“Why, on the platform of rock over the cave, to be 
sure; you will be safe enough there, — or we ’ll go into it, 
if you be so minded.” 

The young man started, and appeared agitated; but 
looking around him with an anxious eye, said quickly : — 

“ Shall we be safe on the rock ? cannot the fire reach us 
there, too ? ” 

“Can’t the boy see? ” said Natty, with the coolness of 
one accustomed to the kind of danger he had just encoun- 
tered. “Had ye stayed in the place above ten minutes 
longer, you would both have been in ashes, but here you 
may stay forever and no fire can touch you, until they 
burn the rocks as well as the woods.” 

With this assurance, which was obviously true, they 
proceeded to the spot, and Natty deposited his load, pla- 
cing the Indian on the ground with his back against a frag- 
ment of the rocks. Elizabeth sank on the ground, and 
buried her face in her hands, while her heart was swelling 
with a variety of conflicting emotions. 

“Let me urge you to take a restorative, Miss Temple,” 
said Edwards respectfully; “your frame will sink else.” 

“Leave me, leave me,” she said, raising her beaming 
eyes for a moment to his; “I feel too much for words! I 
am grateful, Oliver, for this miraculous escape; and, next 
to my God, to you.” 

Edw’ards withdrew to the edge of the rock, and shouted 
“Benjamin! where are you, Benjamin?” 

A hoarse voice replied, as if from the bowels of the 
earth, “Hereaway, master; stowed in this here hit of a 
hole, which is all the same as hot as the cook’s coppers. 
I ’m tired of my berth, d’ ye see, and if-so-be that Lea- 
ther-Stocking has got much overhauling to do before he 


436 


THE PIONEERS 


sails after them said beaver, I ’ll go into dock again, and 
ride out my quarantine till I can get prottick from the 
law, and so hold on upon the rest of my ’Spaniolas.” 

“Bring up a glass of water from the spring,” continued 
Edwards, “and throw a little wine in it; hasten, I entreat 
you ! ” 

“I knows but little of your small drink, Master Oliver,” 
returned the steward, his voice issuing out of the cave into 
the open air, “and the Jamaiky held out no longer than to 
take a parting kiss with Billy Kirby, when he anchored 
me alongside the highway last night, where you run me 
down in the chase. But here ’s summ’at of a red color 
that may suit a weak stomach, mayhap. That Master 
Kirby is no first-rate in a boat; hut he’ll tack a cart 
among the stumps, all the same as a Lon ’on pilot will 
back and fill through the colliers in the Pool .” 1 

As the steward ascended while talking, by the time he 
had ended his speech, he appeared on the rock with the 
desired restoratives, exhibiting the worn-out and bloated 
features of a man who had run deep in a debauch, and 
that lately. 

Elizabeth took from the hands of Edwards the liquor 
which he offered, and then motioned to be left again to 
herself. 

The youth turned at her bidding, and observed Natty 
kindly assiduous around the person of Mohegan. When 
their eyes met, the hunter said sorrowfully : — 

“ His time has come, lad ; I see it in his eyes ; when an 
Indian fixes his eye, he means to go but to one place ; and 
what the willful creatur’s put their minds on, they ’re 
sure to do.” 

A quick tread prevented the reply, and in a few mo- 
ments, to the amazement of the whole party, Mr. Grant 
was seen clinging to the side of the mountain, and striving 
to reach the place where they stood. Oliver sprang to his 
assistance, and by their united efforts the worthy divine 
was soon placed safely among them. 

1 [The Pool is a part of the Thames immediately below London 
Bridge]. 


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437 


“ How came you added to our number ? ” cried Edwards. 
“ Is the hill alive with people at a time like this ? 99 

The hasty but pious thanksgivings of the clergyman 
were soon ejaculated; and when he succeeded in collecting 
his bewildered senses, he replied : — 

“ I heard that my child was seen coming to the moun- 
tain ; and when the fire broke over its summit, my uneasi- 
ness drew me up the road, where I found Louisa, in ter- 
ror for Miss Temple. It was to seek her that I came into 
this dangerous place; and I think, but for God’s mercy, 
through the dogs of Hatty, I should have perished in the 
flames myself. ” 

“Aye! follow the hounds, and if there’s an opening 
they’ll scent it out,” said Hatty; “their noses be given 
them the same as man’s reason.” 

“I did so, and they led me to this place; but praise 
be to God that I see you all safe and well.” 

“Ho, no,” returned the hunter; “safe we be, but as 
for well, John can’t be called in a good way, unless you ’ll 
say that for a man that ’s taking his last look at ’arth.” 

“ He speaks the truth ! ” said the divine, with the holy 
awe with which he ever approached the dying ; “ I have 
been by too many death-beds not to see that the hand 
of the tyrant is laid on this old warrior. Oh! how con- 
soling it is to know that he has not rejected the offered 
mercy in the hour of his strength and of worldly tempta- 
tions ! The offspring of a race of heathen, he has in truth 
been ‘ as a brand plucked from the burning. ’ ” 

“Ho, no,” returned Hatty, who alone stood with him 
by the side of the dying warrior, “it’s no burning that 
ails him, though his Indian feelings made him scorn to 
move, unless it be the burning of man’s wicked thoughts 
for near fourscore years; but it’s natur’ giving out in a 
chase that ’s run too long. Down with ye, Hector! down, 
I say! Flesh isn’t iron, that a man can live forever, and 
see his kith and kin driven to a far country, and he left 
to mourn, with none to keep him company.” 

“ John,” said the divine, tenderly, “dp you hear me? 
do you wish the prayers appointed by the church, at this 
trying moment ? ” 


438 


THE PIONEERS 


The Indian turned his ghastly face towards the speaker, 
and fastened his dark eyes on him, steadily but vacantly. 
No sign of recognition was made; and in a moment he 
moved his head again slowly towards the vale, and began 
to sing, using his own language, in those low, guttural 
tones that have been so often mentioned, his notes rising 
with his theme till they swelled so loud as to be distinct. 

“I will come! I will come! to the land of the just I 
will come ! The Maquas I have slain ! I have slain the 
Maquas! and the Great Spirit calls to his son. I will 
come! I will come! to the land of the just I will come!” 

“What says he, Leather-Stocking? ” inquired the priest, 
with tender interest; “sings he the Redeemer’s praise?” 

“No, no; ’tis his own praise that he speaks now,” said 
Natty, turning in a melancholy manner from the sight of 
his dying friend; “and a good right he has to say it all, 
for I know every word to be true.” 

“May Heaven avert such self-righteousness from his 
heart ! Humility and penitence are the seals of Christian- 
ity; and without feeling them deeply seated in the soul, 
all hope is delusive, and leads to vain expectations. Praise 
himself! when his whole soul and body should unite to 
praise his Maker! John! you have enjoyed the blessings 
of a gospel ministry, and have been called from out a mul- 
titude of sinners and pagans, and I trust, for a wise and 
gracious purpose. Do you now feel what it is to be justi- 
fied by our Saviour’s death, and reject all weak and idle 
dependence on good works, that spring from man’s pride 
and vainglory ? ” 

The Indian did not regard his interrogator, but he 
raised his head again, and said in a low, distinct voice : — 

“Who can say that the Maquas know the back of Mo- 
hegan ? What enemy that trusted in him did not see the 
morning ? What Mingo that he chased ever sang the song 
of triumph ? Did Mohegan ever lie ? No ; the truth lived 
in him, and none else could come out of him. In his 
youth he was a warrior, and his moccasins left the stain of 
blood. In his age he was wise ; his words at the council 
fire did not blow away the winds.” 


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439 


“Ah! he has abandoned that vain relic of paganism, 
his songs, ” cried the divine ; “ what says he now 1 is he 
sensible of his lost state % ” 

“Lord! man,” said Natty, “he knows his end is at 
hand as well as you or I ; but, so far from thinking it a 
loss, he believes it to be a great gain. He is old and 
stiff, and you have made the game so scarce and shy, that 
better shots than him find it hard to get a livelihood. 
Now he thinks he shall travel where it will always be 
good hunting; where no wicked or unjust Indians can 
go; and where he shall meet all his tribe together agin. 
There ’s not much loss in that, to a man whose hands are 
hardly fit for basket-making. Loss! if there be any loss, 
Twill be to me. I’m sure, after he’s gone, there will 
be but little left for me but to follow.” 

“His example and end, which, I humbly trust, shall 
yet be made glorious,” returned Mr. Grant, “should lead 
your mind to dwell on the things of another life. But I 
feel it to be my duty to smooth the way for the parting 
spirit. This is the moment, John, when the reflection 
that you did not reject the mediation of the Redeemer 
will bring balm to your soul. Trust not to any act of 
former days, but lay the burden of your sins at his feet, 
and you have his own blessed assurance that he will not 
desert you.” 

“Though all you say be true, and you have Scriptur’ 
gospels for it, too,” said Natty, “you will make nothing 
of the Indian. He hasn’t seen a Moravian priest sin’ 
the war; and it ’s hard to keep them from going back to 
their native ways. I should think ’t would be as well to 
let the old man pass in peace. He ’s happy now ; I know 
it by his eye, and that ’s more than I would say for the 
chief, sin’ the time the Delawares broke up from the head- 
waters of their river and went west. Ah ’s me ! ’t is a 
grievous long time that, and many dark days have we seen 
together sin’ it.” 

“ Hawkeye ! ” said Mohegan, rousing with the last glim- 
mering of life. “ Hawkeye ! listen to the words of your 
brother. ” 


440 


THE PIONEERS 


“Yes, John,” said the hunter, in English, strongly af- 
fected by the appeal, and drawing to his side; “we have 
been brothers ; and more so than it means in the Indian 
tongue. What would ye have with me, Chingachgook 1 ” 
“Hawkeye! my fathers call me to the happy hunting- 
grounds. The path is clear, and the eyes of Mohegan grow 
young. I look, but I see no white skins; there are none 
to be seen but just and brave Indians. Farewell, Hawk- 
eye ! you shall go with the Fire-eater and the Young Eagle, 
to the white man’s heaven; but I go after my fathers. 
Let the bow, and tomahawk, and pipe, and the wampum 
of Mohegan be laid in his grave ; for when he starts ’t will 
be in the night, like a warrior on a war-party, and he can- 
not stop to seek them.” 

“What says he, Nathaniel? ” cried Mr. Grant, earnestly, 
and with obvious anxiety; “does he recall the promises 
of the mediation, and trust his salvation to the Rock of 
Ages ? ” 

Although the faith of the hunter was by no means clear, 
yet the fruits of early instruction had not entirely fallen 
in the wilderness. He believed in one God, and one 
heaven, and when the strong feeling excited by the leave- 
taking of his old companion, which was exhibited by the 
powerful working of every muscle in his weather-beaten 
face, suffered him to speak, he replied : — 

“No — no; he trusts only to the Great Spirit of the 
savages, and to his own good deeds. He thinks, like all 
his people, that he is to be young agin, and to hunt, and 
be happy to the end of etarnity. It ’s pretty much the 
same with all colors, parson. I could never bring myself 
to think that I shall meet with these hounds, or my piece, 
in another world; though the thoughts of leaving them 
forever sometimes brings hard feelings over me, and makes 
me cling to life with a greater craving than beseems three- 
score and ten.” 

“The Lord in his mercy avert such a death from one 
who has been sealed with the sign of the cross ! ” cried the 
minister, in holy fervor. “John” — 

He paused for the elements. During the period occu- 


THE PIONEERS 


441 


pied by the events which we have related, the dark clouds 
in the horizon had continued to increase in numbers and 
magnitude; and the awful stillness that now pervaded the 
air announced a crisis in the state of the atmosphere. 
The flames, which yet continued to rage along the sides 
of the mountain, no longer whirled in uncertain currents 
of their own eddies but blazed high and steadily towards 
the heavens. There was even a quietude in the ravages 
of the destructive element, as if it foresaw that a hand, 
greater than even its own desolating power, was about to 
stay its progress. The piles of smoke which lay above 
the valley began to rise, and were dispelling rapidly; and 
streaks of vivid lightning were dancing through the masses 
of clouds that impended over the western hills. While 
Mr. Grant was speaking, a flash, which sent its quivering 
light through the gloom, laying bare the whole opposite 
horizon, was followed by a loud crash of thunder, that 
rolled away among the hills, seeming to shake the founda- 
tions of the earth to their centre. Mohegan raised him- 
self, as if in obedience to a signal for his departure, and 
stretched his wasted arm towards the west. His dark face 
lighted with a look of joy, which, with all other expres- 
sion, gradually disappeared; the muscles stiffening as they 
retreated to a state of rest: a slight convulsion played, for 
a single instant, about his lips ; and his arm slowly dropped 
by his side — leaving the frame of the dead warrior repos- 
ing against the rock, with its glassy eyes open and fixed 
on the distant hills, as if the deserted shell were tracing 
the flight of the spirit to its new abode. 

All this Mr. Grant witnessed in silent awe; but when 
the last echoes of the thunder died away, he clasped his 
hands together with pious energy, and repeated, in the 
full, rich tones of assured faith : — 

“‘0 Lord! how unsearchable are thy judgments: and 
thy ways past finding out ! ’ ‘I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth: and though after my skin, worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see 
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. * ” 


442 


THE PIONEERS 


As the divine closed this burst of devotion, he bowed 
his head meekly to his bosom, and looked all the depend- 
ence and humility that the inspired language expressed. 

When Mr. Grant retired from the body, the hunter 
approached, and taking the rigid hand of his friend, looked 
him wistfully in the face for some time without speaking, 
when he gave vent to his feeling by saying, in the mourn- 
ful voice of one who felt deeply : — 

“Bedskin or white, it’s all over now! He’s to be 
judged by a righteous Judge, and by no laws that ’s made 
to suit times and new ways. Well, there ’sonly one more 
death, and the world will be left to me and the hounds. 
Ah’s me! a man must wait the time of God’s pleasure, 
but I begin to weary of life. There is scarcely a tree 
standing that I know, and it ’s hard to find a place that I 
was acquainted with in my younger days.” 

Large drops of rain began now to fall and diffuse them- 
selves over the dry rock, while the approach of the thun- 
der-shower was rapid and certain. The body of the Indian 
was hastily removed into the cave beneath, followed by 
the whining hounds, who missed and moaned for the look 
of intelligence that had always met their salutations to the 
chief. 

Edwards made some hasty and confused excuse for not 
taking Elizabeth into the same place, which was now com- 
pletely closed in front with logs and bark, saying some- 
thing that she hardly understood about its darkness, and 
the unpleasantness of being with the dead body. Miss 
Temple, however, found a sufficient shelter against the 
torrent of rain that fell, under the projection of a rock 
which overhung them. But long before the shower was 
over the sounds of voices were heard below them crying 
aloud for Elizabeth, and men soon appeared, beating the 
dying embers of the bushes, as they worked their way 
cautiously among the unextinguished brands. 

At the first short cessation in the rain, Oliver conducted 
Elizabeth to the road, where he left her. Before parting, 
however, he found time to say, in a fervent manner, that 
his companion was now at no loss to interpret : — 


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443 


“ The moment of concealment is over, Miss Temple. By 
this time to-morrow, I shall remove a veil that perhaps it 
has been weakness to keep around me and my affairs so 
long. But I have had romantic and foolish wishes and 
weaknesses: and who has not, that is young and torn by 
conflicting passions! God bless you! I hear your father’s 
voice; he is coming up the road, and I would not, just 
now, subject myself to detention. Thank Heaven, you 
are safe again; that alone removes the weight of a world 
from my spirit ! ” 

He waited for no answer, hut sprang into the woods. 
Elizabeth, notwithstanding she heard the cries of her 
father as he called upon her name, paused until he was 
concealed among the smoking trees, when she turned, and 
in a moment rushed into the arms of her half-distracted 
parent. 

A carriage had been provided, into which Miss Temple 
hastily entered; when the cry was passed along the hill 
that the lost one was found, and the people returned to 
the village, wet and dirty, hut elated with the thought 
that the daughter of their landlord had escaped from so 
horrid and untimely an end . 1 

1 The probability of a fire in the woods, similar to that here described, 
has been questioned. The writer can only say that he once witnessed a 
fire in another part of New York that compelled a man to desert his 
wagon and horses in the highwaj", and in which the latter were destroyed. 
In order to estimate the probability of such an event, it is necessary to 
remember the effects of a long drought in that climate, and the abundance 
of dead wood which is found in a forest like that described. The fires in 
the American forests frequently rage to such an extent as to produce a 
sensible effect on the atmosphere at the distance of fifty miles. Houses, 
barns, and fences are quite commonly swept away in their course. 


444 


THE PIONEERS 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Selictar ! unsheathe then our chief’s scimitar ; 

Tambourgi ! thy ’larum gives promise of war ; 

Ye mountains ! that see us descend to the shore, 

Shall view us as victors, or view us no more. 

Bybon : Childe Harold's Pilgrimage , II. lxxii. 11. 


The heavy showers that prevailed during the remainder 
of the day completely stopped the progress of the flames, 
though glimmering fires were observed during the night 
on different parts of the hill wherever there was a collec- 
tion of fuel to feed the element. The next day the woods 
for many miles were black and smoking, and were stripped 
of every vestige of brush and dead wood; but the pines 
and hemlocks still reared their heads proudly among the 
hills, and even the smaller trees of the forest retained a 
feeble appearance of life and vegetation. 

The many tongues of rumor were busy in exaggerating 
the miraculous escape of Elizabeth; and a report was gen- 
erally credited that Mohegan had actually perished in the 
flames. This belief became confirmed, and was indeed 
rendered probable, when the direful intelligence reached 
the village that Jotham Riddel, the miner, was found in 
his hole, nearly dead with suffocation, and burnt to such 
a degree that no hopes were entertained of his life. 

The public attention became much alive to the events 
of the last few days; and just at this crisis, the convicted 
counterfeiters took the hint from Natty, and, on the night 
succeeding the fire, found means to cut through their log 
prison also, and to escape unpunished. When this news 
began to circulate through the village, blended with the 
fate of Jotham, and the exaggerated and tortured reports 
of the events on the hill, the popular opinion was freely 
expressed as to the propriety of seizing such of the fugi- 
tives as remained within reach. Men talked of the cave, 
as a secret receptacle of guilt, — and as the rumor of 
ores and metals found its way into the confused medley of 
conjectures, counterfeiting, and everything else that was 


THE PIONEERS 


445 


wicked and dangerous to the peace of society, suggested 
themselves to the busy fancies of the populace. 

While the public mind was in this feverish state, it was 
hinted that the wood had been set on fire by Edwards 
and the Leather- Stocking, and that, consequently, they 
alone were responsible for the damages. This opinion 
soon gained ground, being most circulated by those who 
by their own heedlessness had caused the evil ; and there 
was one irresistible burst of the common sentiment that 
an attempt should be made to punish the offenders. Rich- 
ard was by no means deaf to this appeal, and by noon he 
set about in earnest to see the laws executed. 

Several stout young men were selected, and taken apart 
with an appearance of secrecy, where they received some 
important charge from the Sheriff, immediately under the 
eyes, but far removed from the ears, of all in the village. 
Possessed of a knowledge of their duty, these youths hur- 
ried into the hills, with a bustling manner as if the fate 
of the ‘world depended on their diligence, and at the same 
time with an air of mystery as great as if they were en- 
gaged on secret matters of the State. 

At twelve precisely, a drum heat the “ long roll ” be- 
fore the Bold Dragoon, and Richard appeared, accompanied 
by Captain Hollister, who was clad in his vestments as 
commander of the “Templeton Light Infantry,” when the 
former demanded of the latter the aid of the posse comita- 
tus in enforcing the laws of the country. We have not 
room to record the speeches of the two gentlemen on this 
occasion, but they are preserved in the columns of the 
little blue newspaper, which is yet to be found on file, 
and are said to be highly creditable to the legal formula 
of one of the parties and to the military precision of the 
other. Everything had been previously arranged, and as 
the red-coated drummer continued to roll out his clattering 
notes, some five-and-twenty privates appeared in the ranks 
and arranged themselves in order of battle. 

As this corps was composed of volunteers, and was com- 
manded by a man who had passed the first five-and-thirty 
years of his life in camps and garrisons, it was the nonpa- 


446 


THE PIONEERS 


reil of military science in that country, and was confidently 
pronounced by the judicious part of the Templeton com- 
munity, to be equal in skill and appearance to any troops 
in the known world; in physical endowments they were 
certainly much superior! To this assertion there were 
but three dissenting voices, and one dissenting opinion. 
The opinion belonged to Marmaduke, who, however, saw 
no necessity for its promulgation. Of the voices, one, 
and that a pretty loud one, came from the spouse of the 
commander himself, who frequently reproached her hus- 
band for condescending to lead such an irregular hand of 
warriors, after he had filled the honorable station of ser- 
geant-major to a dashing corps of Virginian cavalry through 
much of the recent war. 

Another of these skeptical sentiments was invariably 
expressed by Mr. Pump, whenever the company paraded, 
generally in some such terms as these, which were uttered 
with that sort of meekness that a native of the island of 
our forefathers is apt to assume, when he condescends to 
praise the customs or character of her truant progeny : — 

“It ’s mayhap that they knows summ’at about loading 
and firing, d’ ye see ; but as for working ship ! why a cor- 
poral’s guard of the Boadishey’s marines would back and 
fill on their quarters in such a manner as to surround and 
captivate them all in half a glass. V As there was no one 
to deny this assertion, the marines of the Boadicea were 
held in a corresponding degree of estimation. 

The third unbeliever was Monsieur Le Quoi, who merely 
whispered to the Sheriff that the corps was one of the finest 
he had ever seen, second only to the Mousquetaires of Le 
Bon Louis! However, as Mrs. Hollister thought there 
was something like actual service in the present appear- 
ances, and was, in consequence, too busily engaged with 
certain preparations of her own, to make her comments ; 
as Benjamin was absent, and Monsieur Le Quoi too happy 
to find fault with anything, the corps escaped criticism 
and comparison altogether on this momentous day, when 
they certainly had greater need of self-confidence than on 
any other previous occasion. Marmaduke was said to be 


THE PIONEERS 


447 


again closeted with Mr. Van der School, and no interrup- 
tion was offered to the movements of the troops. At two 
o’clock precisely the corps shouldered arms, beginning on 
the right wing, next to the veteran, and carrying the mo- 
tion through to the left with great regularity. When each 
musket was quietly fixed in its proper situation, the order 
was given to wheel to the left, and march. As this was 
bringing raw troops at once to face their enemy, it is not 
to be supposed that the manoeuvre was executed with their 
usual accuracy; but as the music struck up the inspiring 
air of Yankee Doodle, and Richard, accompanied by Mr. 
Doolittle, preceded the troops boldly down the street, Cap- 
tain Hollister led on, — with his head elevated to forty- 
five degrees, with a little, low, cocked hat perched on his 
crown, carrying a tremendous dragoon sabre at a poise, 
and trailing at his heels a huge steel scabbard, that had 
war in its very clattering. There was a good deal of diffi- 
culty in getting all the platoons (there were six) to look 
the same way ; but, by the time they reached the defile of 
the bridge, the troops were in sufficiently compact order. 
In this manner they marched up the hill to the summit 
of the mountain, no other alteration taking place in the 
disposition of the forces excepting that a mutual complaint 
was made by the Sheriff and the magistrate of a failure 
in wind, which gradually brought these gentlemen to the 
rear. It will be unnecessary to detail the minute move- 
ments that succeeded. We shall briefly say, that the 
scouts came in and reported, that, so far from retreating, 
as had been anticipated, the fugitives had evidently gained 
a knowledge of the attack, and were fortifying for a despe- 
rate resistance. This intelligence certainly made a ma- 
terial change, not only in the plans of the leaders, but in 
the countenances of the soldiery also. The men looked 
at one another with serious faces, and Hiram and Richard 
began to consult together, apart. 

At this conjuncture they were joined by Billy Kirby, 
who came along the highway, with his axe under his arm, 
as much in advance of his team as Captain Hollister had 
been of his troops in the ascent. The wood-chopper was 


448 


THE PIONEERS 


amazed at the military array, but the Sheriff eagerly 
availed himself of this powerful reinforcement, and com- 
manded his assistance in putting the laws in force. Billy 
held Mr. Jones in too much deference to object; and it 
was finally arranged that he should be the bearer of a 
summons to the garrison to surrender, before they pro- 
ceeded to extremities. The troops now divided, one party 
being led by the Captain, over the Vision, and were 
brought in on the left of the cave, while the remainder ad- 
vanced upon its right, under the orders of the lieutenant. 
Mr. Jones and Dr. Todd — for the surgeon was in attend- 
ance also — appeared on the platform of rock, immedi- 
ately over the heads of the garrison though out of their 
sight. Hiram thought this approaching too near, and he 
therefore accompanied Kirby along the side of the hill, to 
within a safe distance of the fortifications, where he took 
shelter behind a tree. Most of the men discovered great 
accuracy of eye in bringing some object in range between 
them and their enemy, and the only two of the besiegers 
who were left in plain sight of the besieged were Captain 
Hollister on one side and the wood-chopper on the other. 
The veteran stood up boldly to the front, supporting his 
heavy sword in one undeviating position, with his eye 
fixed firmly on his enemy; while the huge form of Billy 
was placed in that kind of quiet repose, — with either 
hand thrust into his bosom, bearing his axe under his 
right arm, — which permitted him, like his own oxen, to 
rest standing. So far, not a word had been exchanged be- 
tween the belligerents. The besieged had drawn together 
a pile of black logs and branches of trees, which they had 
formed into a chevaux-de-frise, making a little circular 
abatis in front of the entrance to the cave. As the ground 
was steep and slippery in every direction around the place, 
and Benjamin appeared behind the works on one side and 
Natty on the other, the arrangement was by no means con- 
temptible, especially as the front was sufficiently guarded 
by the difficulty of the approach. By this time, Kirby 
had received his orders, and he advanced coolly along the 
mountain, picking his way with the same indifference as 


THE PIONEERS 


449 


if he were pursuing his ordinary business. When he was 
within a hundred feet of the works, the long and much 
dreaded rifle of the Leather-Stocking was seen issuing 
from the parapet, and his voice cried aloud : — 

“Keep off! Billy Kirby, keep off ! I wish ye no harm, 
but if a man of ye all comes a step nigher, there ’ll be 
blood spilt atwixt us. God forgive the one that draws it 
first, but so it must be.” 

“Come, old chap,” said Billy, good-naturedly, “don’t 
be crabbed, but hear what a man has got to say. I ’ve 
no consarn in the business, only to see right ’twixt man 
and man; and I don’t kear the valie of a beetle-ring which 
gets the better; but there’s Squire Doolittle, yonder be- 
hind the beech sapling, he has invited me to come in and 
ask you to give up to the law — that ’s all.” 

“ I see the varmint ! I see his clothes ! ” cried the indig- 
nant Natty; “and if he ’ll only show so much flesh as will 
bury a rifle bullet, thirty to the pound, I ’ll make him feel 
me. Go away, Billy, I bid ye; you know my aim, and 
I bear you no malice.” 

“You over-calculate your aim, Natty,” said the other, 
as he stepped behind a pine that stood near him; “if you 
think to shoot a man through a tree with a three-foot butt, 
I can lay this tree right across you in ten minutes, by any 
man’s watch, and in less time, too; so be civil — I want 
no more than what ’s right.” 

There was a simple seriousness in the countenance of 
Natty that showed he was much in earnest; hut it was 
also evident that he was reluctant to shed human blood. 
He answered the taunt of the wood-chopper, by saying : — 

“ I know you drop a tree where you will, Billy Kirby, 
but if you show a hand, or an arm, in doing it, there ’ll 
be bones to be set and blood to stanch. If it ’s only to 
get into the cave that ye want, wait till a two hours’ sun, 
and you may enter it in welcome; but come in now you 
shall not. There ’s one dead body already lying on the 
cold rocks, and there ’s another in which the life can 
hardly be said to stay. If you will come in, there ’ll be 
dead without as well as within.” 


450 


THE PIONEERS 


The wood- chopper stepped out fearlessly from his cover 
and cried : — 

“That ’s fair; and what ’s fair is right. He wants you 
to stop till it’s two hours to sundown; and I see reason 
in the thing. A man can give up when he ’s wrong, if 
you don’t crowd him too hard; but you crowd a man, and 
he gets to be like a stubborn ox — the more you beat, the 
worse he kicks.” 

The sturdy notions of independence maintained by 
Billy neither suited the emergency nor the impatience of 
Mr. Jones, who was burning with a desire to examine the 
hidden mysteries of the cave. He therefore interrupted 
this amicable dialogue with his own voice. 

“ I command you, Nathaniel Bumppo, by my authority, 
to surrender your person to the law,” he cried. “And I 
command you, gentlemen, to aid me in performing my 
duty. Benjamin Penguillan, I arrest you, and order you 
to follow me to the jail of the county by virtue of this 
warrant. ” 

“I’d follow ye, Squire Dickens,” said Benjamin, re- 
moving the pipe from his mouth (for during the whole 
scene the ex-major-domo had been very composedly smok- 
ing), “aye! I’d sail in your wake, to the end of the 
world, if-so-be that there was such a place, which there 
is n’t, seeing that it ’s round. Now, mayhap, Master Hol- 
lister, having lived all your life on shore, you isn’t ac- 
quainted that the world, d’ ye see ” — 

“ Surrender ! ” interrupted the veteran, in a voice that 
startled his hearers, and which actually caused his own 
forces to recoil several paces; “surrender, Benjamin Pen- 
gullum, or expect no quarter.” 

“Damn your quarter!” said Benjamin, rising from the 
log on which he was seated, and taking a squint along the 
barrel of the swivel, which had been brought on the hill 
during the night, and now formed the means of defense 
on his side of the works. “Look you, Master, or Cap- 
tain, tho’ ’f I questions if ye know the name of a rope, ex- 
cept the one that ’s to hang ye, there ’s no need of singing 
out, as if ye was hailing a deaf man on a topgallant yard. 


THE PIONEERS 


451 


Mayhap you think you ’ve got my true name in your sheep- 
skin; but what British sailor finds it worth while to sail 
in these seas, without a sham on his stern, in case of need, 
d’ ye see. If you call me Penguillan, you calls me by the 
name of the man on whose land, d’ ye see, I hove into 
daylight; and he was a gentleman; and that’s more than 
my worst enemy will say of any of the family of Benjamin 
Stubbs. ” 

“Send the warrant round to me, and I’ll put in an 
alias,” cried Hiram, from behind his cover. 

“Put in a jackass, and you’ll put in yourself, Mister 
Doo-but-little, ” shouted Benjamin, who kept squinting 
along his little iron tube with great steadiness. 

“I give you but one moment to yield,” cried Richard. 
“Benjamin! Benjamin! this is not the gratitude I ex- 
pected from you.” 

“I tell you, Richard Jones,” said Natty, who dreaded 
the Sheriff’s influence over his comrade, — “though the 
canister the gal brought be lost, there ’s powder enough in 
the cave to lift the rock you stand on. I ’ll take off my 
roof if you don’t hold your peace.” 

“ I think it beneath the dignity of my office to parley 
further with the prisoners,” the Sheriff observed to his 
companion, while they both retired with a precipitancy 
that Captain Hollister mistook for the signal to advance. 

“ Charge baggonet ! ” shouted the veteran ; “ march ! ” 

Although this signal was certainly expected, it took the 
assailed a little by surprise, and the veteran approached the 
works, crying, “Courage, my brave lads! give them no 
quarter unless they surrender ! ” and struck a furious blow 
upwards with his sabre, that would have divided the stew- 
ard into moieties, by subjecting him to the process of de- 
capitation, but for the fortunate interference of the muzzle 
of the swivel. As it was, the gun was dismounted at the 
critical moment that Benjamin was applying his pipe to 
the priming, and, in consequence, some five or six dozen 
of rifle bullets were projected into the air, in nearly a per- 
pendicular line. Philosophy teaches us that the atmosphere 
will not retain lead ; and two pounds of the metal, moulded 


452 


THE PIONEERS 


into bullets of thirty to the pound, after describing an el- 
lipsis in their journey, returned to the earth rattling among 
the branches of the trees directly over the heads of the 
troops stationed in the rear of their captain. Much of the 
success of an attack made by irregular soldiers depends 
on the direction in which they are first got in motion. 
In the present instance it was retrograde, and in less than 
a minute after the bellowing report of the swivel among 
the rocks and caverns, the whole weight of the attack from 
the left rested on the prowess of the single arm of the 
veteran. Benjamin received a severe contusion from the 
recoil of his gun, which produced a short stupor, during 
which period the ex-steward was prostrate on the ground. 
Captain Hollister availed himself of this circumstance to 
scramble over the breastwork and obtain a footing in the 
bastion — for such was the nature of the fortress, as con- 
nected with the cave. The moment the veteran found 
himself within the works of his enemy, he rushed to the 
edge of the fortification, and waving his sabre over his 
head, shouted : — 

“Victory! come on, my brave boys, the work’s our 
own ! 99 

All this was perfectly military, and was such an exam- 
ple as a gallant officer was in some measure bound to ex- 
hibit to his men; but the outcry was the unlucky cause 
of turning the tide of success. Natty, who had been keep- 
ing a vigilant eye on the wood-chopper, and the enemy 
immediately before him, wheeled at this alarm, and was 
appalled at beholding his comrade on the ground, and the 
veteran standing on his own bulwark, giving forth the 
cry of victory ! The muzzle of the long rifle was turned 
instantly towards the Captain. There was a moment when 
the life of the old soldier was in great jeopardy; but the 
object to shoot at was both too large and too near for the 
Leather- Stocking, who, instead of pulling his trigger, ap- 
plied the gun to the rear of his enemy, and by a powerful 
shove sent him outside of the works with much greater 
rapidity than he had entered them. The spot on which 
Captain Hollister alighted was directly in front, where, as 


THE PIONEERS 


453 


his feet touched the ground, so steep and slippery was the 
side of the mountain it seemed to recede from under them. 
His motion was swift, and so irregular as utterly to con- 
fuse the faculties of the old soldier. During its continu- 
ance, he supposed himself to be mounted, and charging 
through the ranks of his enemy. At every tree he made 
a blow, of course, as at a foot soldier; and just as he was 
making the cut “ St. George ” at a half-burnt sapling, he 
landed in the highway, and, to his utter amazement, at 
the feet of his own spouse. When Mrs. Hollister, who 
was toiling up the hill, followed by at least twenty curious 
hoys, leaning with one hand on the staff with which she 
ordinarily walked, and bearing in the other an empty bag, 
witnessed this exploit of her husband, indignation imme- 
diately got the better, not only of her religion, but of her 
philosophy. 

“ Why, Sergeant ! is it flying ye are 1 ” she cried ; “ that 
I should live to see a husband of mine turn his back to 
the inimy ! and sich a one ! Here have I been telling the 
b’ys, as we come along, all about the saige of Yorrektown, 
and how ye was hurted; and how ye ’d be acting the same 
agin the day; and I mate ye retraiting jist as the first gun 
is fired. Och! I may t’row away the bag! for if there ’s 
plunder, ’twill not be the wife of sich as yeerself that will 
be privileged to be getting the same. They do say, too, 
there is a power of goold and silver in the place — the 
Lord forgive me for setting my heart on worreldly things; 
but what falls in the battle, there ’s Scriptur’ for believ- 
ing, is the just property of the victor.” 

“Retreating! ” exclaimed the amazed veteran; “where ’s 
my horse 1 he has been shot under me — I ” — 

“ Is the man mad 1 ” interrupted his wife ; “ divil the 
horse do ye own, Sergeant, and ye ’re nothing but a shabby 
captain of malaishy. Oh ! if the raal captain was here, 
’t is the other way ye ’d be riding, dear, or you would not 
follow your laider ! ” 

While this worthy couple were thus discussing events, 
the battle began to rage more violently # than ever above 
them. When the Leather-Stocking saw his enemy fairly 


454 


THE PIONEERS 


under headway, as Benjamin would express it, he gave 
his attention again to the right wing of the assailants. It 
would have been easy for Kirby, with his powerful frame, 
to have seized the moment to scale the bastion, and, with 
his great strength, to have sent both its defenders in pur- 
suit of the veteran ; but hostility appeared to he the pas- 
sion that the wood-chopper indulged the least in at that 
moment, for, in a voice that was heard by the retreating 
left wing, he shouted, “ Hurrah ! well done, Captain ! keep 
it up! how he handles his bush-hook! he makes nothing 
of a sapling ! ” and such other encouraging exclamations 
to the flying veteran, until, overcome by mirth, the good- 
natured fellow seated himself on the ground, kicking the 
earth with delight and giving vent to peal after peal of 
laughter. 

Natty stood all this time in a menacing attitude, with 
his rifle pointed over the breastwork, watching with a 
quick and cautious eye the least movement of the assail- 
ants. The outcry unfortunately tempted the ungovernable 
curiosity of Hiram to take a peep from behind his cover 
at the state of the battle. Though this evolution was per- 
formed with great caution, in protecting his front he left, 
like many a better commander, his rear exposed to the 
attacks of his enemy. Mr. Doolittle belonged physically 
to a class of his countrymen to whom nature has denied, 
in their formation, the use of curved lines. Everything 
about him was either straight or angular. But his tailor 
was a woman who worked, like a regimental contractor, 
by a set of rules that gave the same configuration to the 
whole human species. Consequently when Mr. Doolittle 
leaned forward in the manner described, a loose drapery 
appeared behind the tree, at which the rifle of Natty was 
pointed with the quickness of lightning. A less experi- 
enced man would have aimed at the flowing robe, which 
hung like a festoon halfway to the earth; hut the Lea- 
ther-Stocking knew both the man and his female tailor 
better; and when the smart report of the rifle was heard, 
Kirby, who watched the whole manoeuvre in breathless 
expectation, saw the bark fly from the beech and the 


THE PIONEERS 


455 


cloth, at some distance above the loose folds, wave at the 
same instant. No battery was ever nnmasked with more 
promptitude than Hiram advanced from behind the tree 
at this summons. 

He made two or three steps with great precision, to 
the front, and placing one hand on the afflicted part, 
stretched forth the other with a menacing air towards 
Natty, and cried aloud: — 

“Gawl darn ye! this shan’t he settled so easy; I’ll 
follow it from the ‘ common pleas ’ to the ‘ court of er- 
rors. ’ 99 

Such a shocking imprecation from the mouth of so or- 
derly a man as Squire Doolittle, with the fearless manner 
in which he exposed himself, together with perhaps the 
knowledge that Natty’s rifle was unloaded, encouraged the 
troops in the rear, who gave a loud shout, and fired a vol- 
ley into the tree-tops after the contents of the swivel. 
Animated by their own noise, the men now rushed on in 
earnest; and Billy Kirby, who thought the joke, good as 
it was, had gone far enough, was in the act of scaling the 
works, when Judge Temple appeared on the opposite side, 
exclaiming : — 

“Silence and peace! why do I see murder and blood- 
shed attempted 1 is not the law sufficient to protect itself, 
that armed bands must be gathered, as in rebellion and 
war, to see justice performed? 99 

“ ’Tis the posse comitatus,” shouted the Sheriff, from 
a distant rock, “ who ” — 

“Say rather a posse of demons. I command the peace.” 

“Hold! shed not blood! ” cried a voice from the top of 
the Vision. “Hold, for the sake of Heaven, fire no 
more ! all shall be yielded ! you shall enter the cave ! 99 

Amazement produced the desired effect. Natty, who 
had reloaded his piece, quietly seated himself on the logs, 
and rested his head on his hand, while the “Light Infan- 
try ” ceased their military movements and waited the issue 
in suspense. 

In less than a minute Edwards came rushing down the 
hill, followed by Major Hartmann with a velocity that 


456 


THE PIONEERS 


was surprising for his years. They reached the terrace 
in an instant, from which the youth led the way, by the 
hollow in the rock, to the mouth of the cave, into which 
they both entered; leaving all without silent, and gazing 
after them with astonishment. 


CHAPTER XL. 


Antonio . I am dumb. 

Bassanio. Were you the Doctor, and I knew you not ? 

Shakespeare : The Merchant of Venice, V. i. 27P. 

During the five or six minutes that elapsed before the 
youth and Major reappeared, Judge Temple and the Sher- 
iff, together with most of the volunteers, ascended to the 
terrace, where the latter began to express their conjectures 
of the result and to recount their individual services in 
the conflict. But the sight of the peacemakers ascending 
the ravine shut every mouth. 

On a rude chair, covered with undressed deerskins, 
they supported a human being, whom they seated care- 
fully and respectfully in the midst of the assembly. His 
head was covered by long smooth locks of the color of 
snow. His dress, which was studiously neat and clean, 
was composed of such fabrics as none but the wealthiest 
classes wear, hut was threadbare and patched; and on his 
feet were placed a pair of moccasins, ornamented in the 
best manner of Indian ingenuity. The outlines of his 
face were grave and dignified, though his vacant eye, 
which opened and turned slowly to the faces of those 
around him in unmeaning looks, too surely announced 
that the period had arrived when age brings the mental 
imbecility of childhood. 

Natty had followed the supporters of this unexpected 
object to the top of the cave, and took his station at a 
little distance behind him, leaning on his rifle, in the 
midst of his pursuers, with a fearlessness that showed 
that heavier interests than those which affected himself 
were to he decided. Major Hartmann placed himself he- 


THE PIONEERS 


457 


side the aged man, uncovered, with his whole soul beaming 
through those eyes which so commonly danced with frolic 
and humor. Edwards rested with one hand familiarly, 
hut affectionately, on the chair, though his heart was 
swelling with emotions that denied him utterance. 

All eyes were gazing intently, but each tongue con- 
tinued mute. At length the decrepit stranger, turning 
his vacant looks from face to face, made a feeble attempt 
to rise; while a faint smile crossed his wasted face, like 
an habitual effort at courtesy, as he said, in a hollow, 
tremulous voice : — 

“Be pleased to be seated, gentlemen. The council will 
open immediately. Each one who loves a good and vir- 
tuous king, will wish to see these colonies continue loyal. 
Be seated — I pray you, be seated, gentlemen. The troops 
shall halt for the night.” 

“This is the wandering of insanity, ” said Marmaduke; 
“ who will explain this scene ? ” 

“No, sir,” said Edwards, firmly, “’tis only the decay 
of nature; who is answerable for its pitiful condition, 
remains to be shown.” 

“Will the gentlemen dine with us, my son? ” said the 
old stranger, turning to a voice that he both knew and 
loved. “Order a repast suitable for his majesty’s officers. 
You know we have the best of game always at command.” 

“ W T ho is this man ? ” asked Marmaduke, in a hurried 
voice, in which the dawnings of conjecture united with 
interest to put the question. 

“ This man ! ” returned Edwards calmly, his voice, 
however, gradually rising as he proceeded ; “this man, 
sir, whom you behold hid in caverns, and deprived of 
everything that can make life desirable, was once the 
companion and counselor of those who ruled your country. 
This man, whom you see helpless and feeble, was once a 
warrior, so brave and fearless, that even the intrepid na- 
tives gave him the name of the Eire-eater. This man, 
whom you now see destitute of even the ordinary comfort 
of a cabin, in which to shelter his head, was once the 
owner of great riches; and, Judge Temple, he was the 


458 


THE PIONEERS 


rightful proprietor of this very soil on which we stand. 
This man was the father of ” — 

“This, then,” cried Marmaduke, with a powerful emo- 
tion, “this, then, is the lost Major Effingham! ” 

“Lost indeed,” said the youth, fixing a piercing eye on 
the other. 

“And you? and you? ” continued the Judge, articulat- 
ing with difficulty. 

“I am his grandson.” 

A minute passed in profound silence. All eyes were 
fixed on the speakers, and even the old German appeared 
to wait the issue in deep anxiety. But the moment of 
agitation soon passed. Marmaduke raised his head from 
his bosom, where it had sunk, not in shame but in de- 
vout mental thanksgivings, and, as large tears fell over his 
fine manly face, he grasped the hand of the youth warmly, 
and said : — 

“Oliver, I forgive all thy harshness — all thy suspi- 
cions. I now see it all. I forgive thee everything hut 
suffering this aged man to dwell in such a place, when not 
only my habitation, but my fortune, were at his and thy 
command. ” 

“He’s true as ter steel!” shouted Major Hartmann; 
tit n’t I tell you, lat, dat Marmatuke Temple vast a frient 
’at woult never fail in ter dime as of neet ? ” 

“It is true, Judge Temple, that my opinions of your 
conduct have been staggered by what this worthy gentle- 
man has told me. When I found it impossible to convey 
my grandfather back whence the enduring love of this old 
man brought him, without detection and exposure, I went 
to the Mohawk in quest of one of his former comrades, 
in whose justice I had dependence. He is your friend, 
Judge Temple, hut if what he says be true, both my fa- 
ther and myself may have judged you harshly.” 

“ You name your father ! ” said Marmaduke, tenderly, 
“ was he, indeed, lost in the packet ? ” 

“ He was. He had left me, after several years of fruit- 
less application and comparative poverty, in Nova Scotia, 
to obtain the compensation for his losses which the Brit- 


THE PIONEERS 


459 


ish commissioners had at length awarded. After spend- 
ing a year in England he was returning to Halifax, on his 
way to a government to which he had been appointed in 
the West Indies, intending to go to the place where my 
grandfather had sojourned during and since the war, and 
take him with us.” 

“But thou!” said Marmaduke, with powerful interest; 
“I had thought that thou hadst perished with him.” 

A flush passed over the cheeks of the young man, who 
gazed about him at the wondering faces of the volunteers, 
and continued silent. Marmaduke turned to the veteran 
Captain, who just then rejoined his command, and said: — 
“March thy soldiers hack again, and dismiss them — 
the zeal of the Sheriff has much mistaken his duty. Dr. 
Todd, I will thank you to attend to the injury which 
Hiram Doolittle has received in this untoward affair. 
Richard, you will oblige me by sending up the carriage to 
the top of the hill. Benjamin, return to your duty in 
my family.” 

Unwelcome as these orders were to most of the audi- 
tors, the suspicion that they had somewhat exceeded the 
wholesome restraints of the law, and the habitual respect 
with which all the commands of the Judge were received, 
induced a prompt compliance. 

When they were gone, and the rock was left to the par- 
ties most interested in an explanation, Marmaduke, point- 
ing to the aged Major Effingham, said to his grandson: — 
“Had we not better remove thy parent from this open 
place until my carriage can arrive 1 ” 

“Pardon me, sir, the air does him good, and he has 
taken it whenever there was no dread of a discovery. I 
know not how to act, Judge Temple; ought I, can I, suf- 
fer Major Effingham to become an inmate of your family ? ” 
“Thou shalt be thyself the judge,” said Marmaduke. 
“Thy father was my early friend. He intrusted h5s 
fortune to my care. When we separated, he had such 
confidence in me that he wished no security, no evidence 
of the trust, even had there been time or .convenience for 
exacting it. This thou hast heard 1 ” 


460 


THE PIONEERS 


“Most truly, sir,” said Edwards, or rather Effingham, 
as we must now call him. 

“We differed in politics. If the cause of this country 
was successful, the trust was sacred with me, for none 
knew of thy father’s interest. If the crown still held its 
sway, it would be easy to restore the property of so loyal 
a subject as Colonel Effingham. Is not this plain? ” 

“The premises are good, sir,” continued the youth, 
with the same incredulous look as before. 

“Listen — listen, poy,” said the German. “Dere is 
not a hair as of ter rogue in ter het of ter Tchooge.” 

“We all know the issue of the struggle,” continued 
Marmaduke, disregarding both. “Thy grandfather was 
left in Connecticut, regularly supplied by thy father with 
the means of such a subsistence as suited his wants. 
This I well knew, though I never had intercourse with 
him, even in our happiest days. Thy father retired with 
the troops to prosecute his claims on England. At all 
events his losses must be great, for his real estates were 
sold and I became the lawful purchaser. It was not un- 
natural to wish that he might have no bar to its just 
recovery. ” 

“There was none, but the difficulty of providing for so 
many claimants.” 

“But there would have been one, and an insuperable 
one, had I announced to the world that I held these 
estates, multiplied, by the times and my industry, a hun- 
dred-fold in value, only as his trustee. Thou knowest that 
I supplied him with considerable sums, immediately after 
the war.” 

“ You did, until ” — 

“My letters were returned unopened. Thy father had 
much of thy own spirit, Oliver; he was sometimes hasty 
and rash.” The Judge continued, in a self-condemning 
nfanner, “Perhaps my fault lies the other way; I may 
possibly look too far ahead, and calculate too deeply. It 
certainly was a severe trial to allow the man whom I most 
loved to think ill of me for seven years, in order that he 
might honestly apply for his just remunerations. But had 


THE PIONEERS 


461 


he opened my last letters, thou wouldst have learned the 
whole truth. Those I sent him to England, by what my 
agent writes me, he did read. He died, Oliver, knowing 
all. He died, my friend, and I thought thou hadst died 
with him.” 

“Our poverty would not permit us to pay for two pas- 
sages,” said the youth, with the extraordinary emotion 
with which he ever alluded to the degraded state of his 
family ; “ I was left in the Province to wait for his re- 
turn, and when the sad news of his loss reached me, I was 
nearly penniless.” 

“And what didst thou, boy?” asked Marmaduke in a 
faltering voice. 

“I took my passage here in search of my grandfather; 
for I well knew that his resources were gone, with the 
half-pay of my father. On reaching his abode, I learnt 
that he had left it in secret; though the reluctant hire- 
ling, who had deserted him in his poverty, owned to my 
urgent entreaties that he believed he had been carried 
away by an old man who had formerly been his servant. 
I knew at once it was Natty, for my father often ” — 

“ Was Natty a servant of thy grandfather ? ” exclaimed 
the Judge. 

“ Of that, too, were you ignorant ? ” said the youth, in 
evident surprise. 

“ How should I know it ? I never met the Major, nor 
was the name of Bumppo ever mentioned to me. I knew 
him only as a man of the woods, and one who lived by 
hunting. Such men are too common to excite surprise.” 

“He was reared in the family of my grandfather; 
served him for many years during their campaigns at the 
West, where he became attached to the woods; and he 
was left here as a kind of locum tenens on the lands that 
old Mohegan (whose life my grandfather once saved) in- 
duced the Delawares to grant to him when they admitted 
him as an honorary member of their tribe.” 

“ This, then, is thy Indian blood ? ” 

“I have no other,” said Edwards, smiling; “Major 
Effingham was adopted as the son of Mohegan, who at 


462 


THE PIONEERS 


that time was the greatest man in his nation; and my fa- 
ther, who visited those people when a boy, received the 
name of the Eagle from them on account of the shape of 
his face, as I understand. They have extended his title 
to me. I have no other Indian blood or breeding ; though 
I have seen the hour, Judge Temple, when I could wish 
that such had been my lineage and education.” 

“Proceed with thy tale,” said Marmaduke. 

“I have but little more to say, sir. I followed to the 
lake where I had so often been told that Natty dwelt, and 
found him maintaining his old master in secret; for even 
he could not bear to exhibit to the world, in his poverty 
and dotage, a man whom a whole people once looked up 
to with respect.” 

“ And what did you ? ” 

“ What did I ! I spent my last money in purchasing a 
rifle, clad myself in a coarse garb, and learned to be a 
hunter, by the side of Leather-Stocking. You know the 
rest, Judge Temple.” 

“Ant vere vast olt Fritz Hartmann? ” said the German 
reproachfully; “didst never hear a name as of olt Fritz 
Hartmann from ter mout of ter fader, lat 1 ” 

“I may have been mistaken, gentlemen,” returned the 
youth ; “ but I had pride, and could not submit to such 
an exposure as this day even has reluctantly brought to 
light. I had plans that might have been visionary ; but, 
should my parent survive till autumn, I purposed taking 
him with me to the city, where we have distant relatives, 
who must have learnt to forget the Tory by this time. He 
decays rapidly,” he continued mournfully, “and must soon 
lie by the side of old Mohegan.” 

The air being pure and the day fine, the party contin- 
ued conversing on the rock until the wheels of Judge 
Temple’s carriage were heard clattering up the 3ide of the 
mountain, during which time the conversation was main- 
tained with deep interest, each moment clearing up some 
doubtful action, and lessening the antipathy of the youth 
to Marmaduke. He no. longer objected to the removal 
of his grandfather, who displayed a childish pleasure when 


THE PIONEERS 


463 


he found himself seated once more in a carriage. When 
placed in the ample hall of the mansion-house, the eyes 
of the aged veteran turned slowly to the objects in the 
apartment, and a look like the dawn of intellect would for 
moments flit across his features, when he invariably offered 
some useless courtesies to those near him, wandering pain- 
fully in his subjects. The exercise and the change soon 
produced an exhaustion that caused them to remove him 
to his bed, — where he lay for hours, evidently sensible of 
the change in his comforts, and exhibiting that mortifying 
picture of human nature which too plainly shows that the 
propensities of the animal continue even after the nobler 
part of the creature appears to have vanished. 

Until his parent was placed comfortably in bed, with 
Natty seated at his side, Effingham did not quit him. He 
then obeyed a summons to the library of the Judge, where 
he found the latter, with Major Hartmann, waiting for 
him. 

“Read this paper, Oliver,” said Marmaduke to him, as 
he entered, “and thou wilt find that, so far from intend- 
ing thy family wrong during life, it has been my care to 
see that justice should be done at even a later day.” 

The youth took the paper, which his first glance told 
him was the will of the Judge. Hurried and agitated 
as he was, he discovered that the date corresponded with 
the time of the unusual depression of Marmaduke. As he 
proceeded his eyes began to moisten, and the hand which 
held the instrument shook violently. 

The will commenced with the usual forms, spun out by 
the ingenuity of Mr. Van der School; but after this sub- 
ject was fairly exhausted, the pen of Marmaduke became 
plainly visible. In clear, distinct, manly, and even elo- 
quent language, he recounted his obligations to Colonel 
Effingham, the nature of their connection, and the circum- 
stances in which they separated. He then proceeded to 
relate the motives of his long silence, mentioning, however, 
large sums that he had forwarded to his friend, which had 
been returned with the letters unopened. After this, he 
spoke of his search for the grandfather, who had unaccount- 


464 


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ably disappeared, and his fears that the direct heir of the 
trust was buried in the ocean with his father. 

After, in short, recounting in a clear narrative the 
events which our readers must now be able to connect, he 
proceeded to make a fair and exact statement of the sums left 
in his care by Colonel Effingham. A devise of his whole 
estate to certain responsible trustees followed; to hold the 
same for the benefit, in equal moieties, of his daughter 
on one part, and of Oliver Effingham, formerly a major in 
the army of Great Britain, and of his son, Edw r ard Effing- 
ham, and of his son Edward Oliver Effingham, or to the 
survivor of them and the descendants of such survivor, 
forever, on the other part. The trust was to endure until 
1810, — when, if no person appeared, or could be found 
after sufficient notice to claim the moiety so devised, then 
a certain sum, calculating the principal and interest of his 
debt to Colonel Effingham, was to be paid to the heirs at 
law of the Effingham family, and the bulk of his estate 
was to be conveyed in fee to his daughter, or her heirs. 

The tears fell from the eyes of the young man, as he 
read this undeniable testimony of the good faith of Mar- 
maduke, and his bewildered gaze was still fastened on the 
paper, when a voice, that thrilled on every nerve, spoke 
near him, saying : — 

“ Do you yet doubt us, Oliver ? ” 

“ I have never doubted you ! ” cried the youth, recover- 
ing his recollection and his voice, as he sprang to seize the 
hand of Elizabeth; “no, not one moment has my faith in 
you wavered.” 

“ And my father ” — 

“ God bless him ! ” 

“I thank thee, my son,” said Judge, exchanging a 
warm pressure of the hand with the youth ; “ but we have 
both erred ; thou hast been too hasty, and I have been too 
slow. One half of my estates shall be thine as soon as 
they can be conveyed to thee; and if what my suspicions 
tell me be true, I suppose the other must follow speedily. ” 
He took the hand which he held, and united it with that 
of his daughter, and motioned towards the door to the 
Major. 


THE PIONEERS 


465 


“ I telt you vat, gal ! ” said the old German, good-hu- 
moredly; “if I vast as I vas ven I servit mit his grand- 
fader on ter lakes, ter lazy tog shouln’t vin ter prize as 
for nottin.” 

“Come, come, old Fritz,” said the Judge; “you are 
seventy, not seventeen ; Richard waits for you with a howl 
of eggnog, in the hall.” 

“ Richart ! ter duy vel ! ” exclaimed the other, hastening 
out of the room ; “ he makes ter nog ast for ter horse. I 
vilt show ter Sheriff mit my own hants ! Ter duy vel ! I 
pelieve he sweetens mit ter yankee melasses ! ” 

Marmaduke smiled and nodded affectionately at the 
young couple, and closed the door after them. If any of 
our readers expect that we are going to open it again, for 
their gratification, they are mistaken. 

The tete-h-tete continued for a very unreasonable time ; 
how long we shall not say ; hut it was ended by six o’clock 
in the evening, for at that hour Monsieur Le Quoi made 
his appearance, agreeably to the appointment of the preced- 
ing day, and claimed the ear of Miss Temple. He was 
admitted; when he made an offer of his hand, with much 
suavity, together with his “amis beeg and leet’, his pere, 
his mere, and his sucre-boosh. ” Elizabeth might, possi- 
bly, have previously entered into some embarrassing and 
binding engagements with Oliver, for she declined the 
tender of all, in terms as polite, though perhaps a little 
more decided, than those in which they were made. 

The Frenchman soon joined the German and the Sheriff 
in the hall, who compelled him to take a seat with them 
at the table, where, by the aid of punch, wine, and egg- 
nog, they soon extracted from the complaisant Monsieur 
Le Quoi the nature of his visit. It was evident that he 
had made the offer as a duty which a well-bred man owed 
to a lady in such a retired place, before he left the country, 
and that his feelings were but very little, if at all, inter- 
ested in the matter. After a few potations, the waggish 
pair persuaded the exhilarated Frenchman that there was 
an inexcusable partiality in offering to one lady, and not 
extending a similar courtesy to another. Consequently, 


466 


THE PIONEERS 


about nine, Monsieur Le Quoi sallied forth to the rectory 
on a similar mission to Miss Grant, which proved as suc- 
cessful as his first effort in love. 

When he returned to the mansion-house, at ten, Rich- 
ard and the Major were still seated at the table. They 
attempted to persuade the Gaul, as the Sheriff called him, 
that he should next try Remarkable Pettibone. But, 
though stimulated by mental excitement and wine, two 
hours of abstruse logic were thrown away on this subject; 
for he declined their advice with a pertinacity truly aston- 
ishing in so polite a man. 

When Benjamin lighted Monsieur Le Quoi from the 
door, he said, at parting : — 

“If-so-be, Mounsheer, you ’d run alongside Mistress 
Prettybones, as the Squire Dickens was bidding ye, ’tis 
my notion you ’d have been grappled ; in which case, d’ ye 
see, you mought have been troubled in swinging clear 
again in a handsome manner; for tho’ ’f Miss Lizzy and 
the parson’s young ’un be tidy little vessels, that shoot by 
a body on a wind, Mistress Remarkable is summ’at of a 
galliot fashion — when you once takes ’em in tow, they 
doesn’t like to be cast off again.” 


t 

CHAPTER XLI. 


Yes, sweep ye on ! We will not leave, 

For them that triumph, those who grieve, 

With that armada gay 
Be laughter loud, and jocund shout — 

— But with that skiff 
Abides the minstrel tale. 

Walter Scott : Lord of the Isles , I. xvii. 


The events of our tale carry us through the summer; 
and after making nearly the circle of the year, we must 
conclude our labors in the delightful month of October. 
Many important incidents had, however, occurred in the 
intervening period ; a few of which it may be necessary to 
recount. 


THE PIONEERS 


467 


The two principal were the marriage of Oliver and Eliza- 
beth, and the death of Major Effingham. They both took 
place early in September; and the former preceded the lat- 
ter only a few days. The old man passed away like the last 
glimmering of a taper; and though his death casta melan- 
choly over the family, grief could not follow such an end. 

One of the chief concerns of Marmaduke was to recon- 
cile the even conduct of a magistrate with the course that 
his feelings dictated to the criminals. The day succeed- 
ing the discovery at the cave, however, Natty and Benja- 
min reentered the jail peaceably, where they continued, 
well fed and comfortable, until the return of an express to 
Albany, who brought the governor’s pardon to the Leather- 
Stocking. In the meantime, proper means were em- 
ployed to satisfy Hiram for the assaults on his person ; 
and on the same day, the two comrades issued together 
into society again, with their characters not at all affected 
by the imprisonment. 

Mr. Doolittle began to discover that neither architec- 
ture, nor his law, was quite suitable to the growing wealth 
and intelligence of the settlement ; and after exacting the 
last cent that was attainable in his compromises, to use 
the language of the country he “pulled up stakes,” and 
proceeded further west, scattering his professional science 
and legal learning through the land; vestiges of both of 
which are to be discovered there even to the present hour. 

Poor Jotham, whose life paid the forfeiture of his folly, 
acknowledged before he died that his reasons for believ- 
ing in a mine were extracted from the lips of a sibyl, who, 
by looking in a magic glass, was enabled to discover the 
hidden treasures of the earth. Such superstition was fre- 
quent in the new settlements ; and after the first surprise 
was over the better part of the community forgot the sub- 
ject. But, at the same time that it removed from the 
breast of Bichard a lingering suspicion of the acts of the 
three hunters, it conveyed a mortifying lesson to him 
which brought many quiet hours, in future, to his cousin 
Marmaduke. It may be remembered, that ‘the Sheriff con- 
fidently pronounced this to be no “visionary ” scheme, and 


468 


THE PIONEERS 


that word was enough to shut his lips, at any time within 
the next ten years. 

Monsieur Le Quoi, who has been introduced to our 
readers, because no picture of that country would be faith- 
ful without some such character, found the island of Mar- 
tinique, and his “ sucre-boosh, ” in possession of the Eng- 
lish; but Marmaduke and his family were much gratified 
in soon hearing that he had returned to his bureau, in 
Paris ; where he afterwards issued yearly bulletins of his 
happiness, and of his gratitude to his friends in America. 

With this brief explanation, we must return to our nar- 
rative. Let the American reader imagine one of our 
mildest October mornings, when the sun seems a ball of 
silvery fire, and the elasticity of the air is felt while it is 
inhaled, imparting vigor and life to the whole system ; 
the weather neither too warm nor too cold, but of that 
happy temperature which stirs the blood without bringing 
the lassitude of spring. It was on such a morning, about 
the middle of the month, that Oliver entered the hall where 
Elizabeth was issuing her usual orders for the day, and 
requested her to join him in a short excursion to the lake 
side. The tender melancholy in the manner of her hus- 
band caught the attention of Elizabeth, who instantly 
abandoned her concerns, threw a light shawl across her 
shoulders, and concealing her raven hair under a gypsy, 
she took his arm, and submitted herself without a ques- 
tion to his guidance. They crossed the bridge, and had 
turned from the highway along the margin of the lake, 
before a word was exchanged. Elizabeth well knew by 
the direction the object of the walk, and respected the 
feelings of her companion too much to indulge in untimely 
conversation. But when they gained the open fields, and 
her eye roamed over the placid lake, — covered with wild 
fowl already journeying from the great northern waters to 
seek a warmer sun, but lingering to play in the limpid 
sheet of the Otsego, — and to the sides of the mountain, 
which were gay with the thousand dyes of autumn as if 
to grace their bridal, the swelling heart of the young wife 
burst out in speech. 


THE PIONEERS 


469 


“This is not a time for silence, Oliver! ” she said, cling- 
ing more fondly to his arm; “everything in nature seems 
to speak the praises of the Creator; why should we, who 
have so much to be grateful for, be silent ? ” 

“Speak on!” said her husband, smiling; “I love the 
sounds of your voice. You must anticipate our errand 
hither: I have told you my plans; how do you like 
them ? ” 

“I must first see them,” returned his wife. “But I 
have had my plans, too; it is time I should begin to di- 
vulge them.” 

“You! It is something for the comfort of my old 
friend Natty, I know.” 

“ Certainly of Natty ; but we have other friends besides 
the Leather-Stocking to serve. Do you forget Louisa, and 
her father ? ” 

“No, surely; have I not given one of the best farms in 
the county to the good divine ? As for Louisa I should 
wish you to keep her always near us.” 

“ You do ! ” said Elizabeth, slightly compressing her 
lips; “but poor Louisa may have other views for herself; 
she may wish to follow my example, and marry.” 

“I don’t think it,” said Effingham, musing a moment. 
“I really don’t know any one hereabouts good enough for 
her. ” 

“Perhaps not here; but there are other places besides 
Templeton, and other churches besides ‘ New St. Paul’s.’ ” 

“Churches, Elizabeth! you would not wish to lose Mr. 
Grant, surely ! Though simple, he is an excellent man. 
I shall never find another who has half the veneration for 
my orthodoxy. You would humble me from a saint to a 
very common sinner.” 

“It must be done, sir,” returned the lady, with a half- 
concealed smile, “though it degrades you from an angel 
to a man.” 

“But you forget the farm.” 

“He can lease it, as others do. Besides, would you 
have a clergyman toil in the fields ? ” 

“Where can he go? you forget Louisa.” 


470 


THE PIONEERS 


“No, I do not forget Louisa,” said Elizabeth, again 
compressing lier beautiful lips. “You know, Effingham, 
that my father has told you that I ruled him, and that I 
should rule you. I am now about to exert my power.” 

“Anything, anything, dear Elizabeth, but not at the 
expense of us all; not at the expense of your friend.” 

“How do you know, sir, that it will be so much at the 
expense of my friend ? ” said the lady, fixing her eyes with 
a searching look on his countenance, where they met only 
the unsuspecting expression of manly regret. 

“ How do I know it ? why, it is natural that she should 
regret us.” 

“It is our duty to struggle with our natural feelings,” 
returned the lady; “and there is but little cause to fear 
that such a spirit as Louisa’s will not effect it.” 

“ But what is your plan ? ” 

“Listen, and you shall know. My father has procured 
a call for Mr. Grant to one of the towns on the Hudson, 
where he can live more at his ease than in journeying 
through these woods; where he can spend the evening of 
his life in comfort and quiet ; and where his daughter may 
meet with such society, and form such a connection, as 
may be proper for one of her years and character.” 

“Bess! you amaze me! I did not think you had been 
such a manager ! ” 

“ Oh ! I manage more deeply than you imagine, sir, ” 
said the wife, archly smiling again ; “ but it is my will, 
and it is your duty to submit, — for a time at least.” 

Effingham laughed; but as they approached the end of 
their walk, the subject was changed by common consent. 

The place at which they arrived was the little spot of 
level ground where the cabin of the Leather- Stocking had 
so long stood. 1 Elizabeth found it entirely cleared of rub- 
bish, and beautifully laid down in turf by the removal 
of sods, which, in common with the surrounding country, 

1 The cabin of Leather-Stocking was supposed to have stood on the 
eastern shore of the lake, on the ground now occupied by Lakewood 
Cemetery, which was not even planned until more than thirty years 
after the publication of “The Pioneers.” — S. F. C. 


THE PIONEERS 


471 


had grown gay under the influence of profuse showers, as 
if a second spring had passed over the land. This little 
place was surrounded by a circle of mason-work, and they 
entered by a small gate, near which, to the surprise of 
both, the rifle of Natty was leaning against the wall. 
Hector and the slut reposed on the grass by its side, as if 
conscious that, however altered, they were lying on the 
ground, and were surrounded by objects, with which they 
were familiar. The hunter himself was stretched on the 
earth, before a headstone of white marble, pushing aside 
with his fingers the long grass that had already sprung up 
from the luxuriant soil around its base, apparently to lay 
bare the inscription. By the side of this stone, which 
was a simple slab at the head of a grave, stood a rich 
monument, decorated with an urn and ornamented with 
the chisel. 

Oliver and Elizabeth approached the graves with a light 
tread, unheard by the old hunter, whose sunburnt face was 
working, and whose eyes twinkled as if something impeded 
their vision. After some little time, Natty raised himself 
slowly from the ground and said aloud : — 

“ Well, well — I’m bold to say it ’s all right ! There ’s 
something that I suppose is reading; but I can’t make 
anything of it; though the pipe, and the tomahawk, and 
the moccasins, be pretty well — pretty well, for a man 
that, I dares to say, never seed ’ither of the things. Ah ’s 
me! there they lie, side by side, happy enough! Who 
will there be to put me in the ’arth when my time 
comes 1 ” 

“When that unfortunate hour arrives, Natty, friends 
shall not be wanting to perform the last offices for you,” 
said Oliver, a little touched at the hunter’s soliloquy. 

The old man turned without manifesting surprise, for 
he had got the Indian habits in this particular, and run- 
ning his hand under the bottom of his nose, seemed to 
wipe away his sorrow with the action. 

“You’ve come out to see the graves, children, have 
ye?” he said; “well, well, they’re wholesome sights to 
young as well as old.” 


472 


THE PIONEERS 


“I hope they are fitted to your liking,” said Effingham; 
“ no one has a better right than yourself to be consulted 
in the matter.” 

“Why, seeing that I ain’t used to fine graves,” re- 
turned the old man, “it is but little matter consarning my 
taste. Ye laid the Major’s head to the west, and Mohe- 
gan’s to the east, did ye, lad?” 

“At your request it was done.” 

“It’s so best,” said the hunter; “they thought they 
had to journey different ways, children; though there is 
One greater than all, who ’ll bring the just together, at 
his own time, and who ’ll whiten the skin of a black-moor, 
and place him on a footing with princes.” 

“There is but little reason to doubt that,” said Eliza- 
beth, whose decided tones were changed to a soft, melan- 
choly voice; “I trust we shall all meet again, and be happy 
together. ” 

“ Shall we, child, shall we ? ” exclaimed the hunter, 
with unusual fervor; “there’s comfort in that thought 
too. But before I go, I should like to know what ’t is 
you tell these people, that he flocking into the country 
like pigeons in the spring, of the old Delaware, and of the 
bravest white man that ever trod the hills.” 

Effingham and Elizabeth were surprised at the manner 
of the Leather- Stocking, which was unusually impressive 
and solemn; but, attributing it to the scene, the young 
man turned to the monument, and read aloud: — 

“ ‘ Sacred to the memory of Oliver Effingham, Esquire, 
formerly a Major in his B. Majesty’s 60th Foot; a soldier 
of tried valor; a subject of chivalrous loyalty; and a man 
of honesty. To these virtues, he added the graces of a 
Christian. The morning of his life was spent in honor, 
wealth, and power; but its evening was obscured by pov- 
erty, neglect, and disease, which were alleviated only by 
the tender care of his old, faithful, and upright friend and 
attendant, Nathaniel Bumppo. His descendants rear this 
stone to the virtues of the master, and to the enduring 
gratitude of the servant. ’ ” 

The Leather-Stocking stared at the sound of his own 


THE PIONEERS 


473 


name, and a smile of joy illumined his wrinkled features, 
as he said : — 

“And did ye say it, lad? have you then got the old 
man’s name cut in the stone, by the side of his master’s? 
God bless ye, children! ’twas a kind thought, and kind- 
ness goes to the heart as life shortens.” 

Elizabeth turned her back to the speakers. Effingham 
made a fruitless effort before he succeeded in saying: — 
“It is there cut in plain marble; but it should have 
been written in letters of gold ! ” 

“Show me the name, boy,” said Natty, with simple 
eagerness; “let me see my own name placed in such honor. 
’T is a gin’rous gift to a man who leaves none of his name 
and family behind him, in a country where he has tarried 
so long.” 

Effingham guided his finger to the spot, and Natty fol- 
lowed the windings of the letters to the end with deep in- 
terest, when he raised himself from the tomb, and said : — 
“I suppose it ’s all right; and it ’s kindly thought, and 
kindly done ! But what have ye put over the redskin ? ” 

“ You shall hear : — 

“ * This stone is raised to the memory of an Indian chief, 
of the Delaware tribe, who was known by the several 
names of John Mohegan; Mohican ’ ” — 

“Mo-hee-can, lad, they call theirselves! ’he-can.” 

“ Mohican ; ‘ and Chingagook ’ ” — 

“’Gach, boy; ’gach-gook; Chingachgook, which, intar- 
preted, means Big Sarpent. The name should be set 
down right, for an Indian’s name has always some mean- 
ing in it.” 

“I will see it altered. ‘ He was the last of his people 
who continued to inhabit this country ; and it may be said 
of him, that his faults were those of an Indian, and his 
virtues those of a man. ’ ” 

“You never said truer word, Mr. Oliver; ah’s me! if 
you had knowed him as I did, in his prime, in that very 
battle where the old gentleman who sleeps by his side 
saved his life, when them thieves the Iroquois had him 
at the stake, you ’d have said all that, and more too. I 


474 


THE PIONEERS 


cut the thongs with this very hand, and gave him my own 
tomahawk and knife, seeing that the rifle was always my 
fav’rite weapon. He did lay about him like a man! I 
met him as I was coming home from the trail, with eleven 
Mingo scalps on his pole. You need n’t shudder, Madam 
Effingham, for they was all from shaved heads and war- 
riors. When I look about me, at these hills, where I 
used to could count sometimes twenty smokes, curling over 
the tree-tops, from the Delaware camps, it raises mournful 
thoughts, to think that not a redskin is left of them all; 
unless it be a drunken vagabond from the Oneidas, or them 
Yankee Indians, who, they say, be moving up from the 
seashore; and who belong to none of God’s creatur’s, to 
my seeming, being, as it were, neither fish nor flesh — 
neither white man nor savage. Well, well! the time has 
come at last, and I must go ” — 

“ Go ! ” echoed Edwards, “ whither do you go ? ” 

The Leather-Stocking, who had imbibed unconsciously 
many of the Indian qualities, though he always thought 
of himself as of a civilized being, compared with even the 
Delawares, averted his face to conceal the workings of his 
muscles, as he stooped to lift a large pack from behind the 
tomb, which he placed deliberately on his shoulders. 

“ Go ! ” exclaimed Elizabeth, approaching him with a 
hurried step, “you should not venture so far in the woods 
alone, at your time of life, Hatty ; indeed, it is imprudent. 
He is bent, Effingham, on some distant hunting.” 

“ What Mrs. Effingham tells you is true, Leather- Stock- 
ing,” said Edwards; “there can be no necessity for your 
submitting to such hardships now ! So throw aside your 
pack, and confine your hunt to the mountains near us, if 
you will go.” 

“Hardship! ’tis a pleasure children, and the greatest 
that is left me on this side the grave. ” 

“Ho, no; you shall not go to such a distance,” cried 
Elizabeth, laying her white hand on his deerskin pack ; “ I 
am right ! I feel his camp-kettle, and a canister of pow- 
der! He must not be suffered to wander so far from us, 
Oliver; remember how suddenly Mohegan dropped away.” 


THE PIONEERS 


475 


“I knowed the parting would come hard, children; I 
knowed it would ! ” said Natty, “ and so I got aside to 
look at the graves by myself, and thought if I left ye the 
keepsake which the Major gave me, when we first parted 
in the woods, ye wouldn’t take it unkind, — but would 
know that, let the old man’s body go where it might, his 
feelings stayed behind him.” 

“ This means something more than common ! ” exclaimed 
the youth; “where is it, Natty, that you purpose going ? 99 

The hunter drew nigh him with a confident, reasoning 
air, as if what he had to say would silence all objections, 
and replied : — 

“ Why, lad, they tell me that on the Big Lakes there ’s 
the best of hunting, and a great range, without a white 
man on it unless it may be one like myself. I ’m weary 
of living in clearings and where the hammer is sounding 
in my ears from sunrise to sundown. And though I ’m 
much bound to ye both, children — I wouldn’t say it if 
it was not true — I crave to go into the woods agin, I 
do.” 

“Woods!” echoed Elizabeth, trembling M 7 ith her feel- 
ings ; “ do you not call these endless forests woods ? ” 

“Ah! child, these be nothing to a man that’s used to 
the wilderness. I have took but little comfort sin’ your 
father come on with his settlers; but I wouldn’t go far, 
while the life was in the body that lies under the sod 
there. But now he ’s gone, and Chingachgook is gone; 
and you be both young and happy. Yes ! the big house 
has rung with merriment this month past! And now, I 
thought, was the time to try to get a little comfort in the 
close of my days. Woods, indeed! I doesn’t call these 
woods, Madam Effingham, where I lose myself every day 
of my life in the clearings.” 

“If there be anything wanting to your comfort, name 
it, Leather- Stocking; if it be attainable it is yours.” 

“You mean all for the best, lad; I know it; and so 
does Madam, too: but your ways isn’t my ways. ’Tis 
like the dead there, who thought, when the breath was in 
them, that one went east and one went west, to find their 


476 


THE PIONEERS 


heavens; but they ’ll meet at last; and so shall we, chil- 
dren. Yes, ind as you ’ve begun, and we shall meet in 
the land of the just at last.” 

“ This is so new ! so unexpected ! ” said Elizabeth, in 
almost breathless excitement; “I had thought you meant 
to live with us and die with us, Natty.” 

“Words are of no avail,” exclaimed her husband; “the 
habits of forty years are not to be dispossessed by the ties 
of a day. I know you too well to urge you further, 
Natty; unless you will let me build you a hut on one of 
the distant hills, where we can sometimes see you, and 
know that you are comfortable.” 

“Don’t fear for the Leather-Stocking, children; God 
will see that his days be provided for, and his ind happy. 
I know you mean all for the best, but our ways doesn’t 
agree. I love the woods, and ye relish the face of man; 
I eat when hungry, and drink when a-dry; and ye keep 
stated hours and rules, — nay, nay, you even overfeed 
the dogs, lad, from pure kindness; and hounds should be 
gaunty to run well. The meanest of God’s creatur’s be 
made for some use, and I ’m formed for the wilderness; if 
ye love me, let me go where my soul craves to be agin ! ” 

The appeal was decisive, and not another word of en- 
treaty for him to remain was then uttered ; but Elizabeth 
bent her head to her bosom and wept, while her husband 
dashed away the tears from his eyes; and, with hands 
that almost refused to perform their office, he produced 
his pocket-book and extended a parcel of bank-notes to 
the hunter. 

“Take these,” he said, “at least take these; secure them 
about your person, and in the hour of need, they will do 
you good service.” 

The old man took the notes, and examined them with 
a curious eye. 

“This, then, is some of the new-fashioned money that 
they’ve been making at Albany, out of paper! It can’t 
be worth much to they that hasn’t Taming! No, no, lad 
— take back the stuff ; it will do me no sarvice. I took 
kear to get all the Frenchman’s powder afore he broke up, 


THE PIONEERS 


477 


and they say lead grows where I ’m going. It is n’t even 
fit for wads, seeing that I use none but leather ! Madam 
Effingham, let an old man kiss your hand, and wish God’s 
choicest blessings on you and your’n.” 

“ Once more let me beseech you, stay ! ” cried Elizabeth. 
“Do not, Leather-Stocking, leave me to grieve for the 
man who has twice rescued me from death, and who has 
served those I love so faithfully. For my sake, if not for 
your own, stay. I shall see you in those frightful dreams 
that still haunt my nights, dying in poverty and age by 
the side of those terrific beasts you slew. There will be 
no evil that sickness, want, and solitude can inflict that 
my fancy will not conjure as your fate. Stay with us, old 
man, if not for your own sake, at least for ours.” 

“Such thoughts and bitter dreams, Madam Effingham,” 
returned the hunter, solemnly, “ will never haunt an inno- 
cent parson long. They ’ll pass away with God’s pleasure. 
And if the catamounts be yet brought to your eyes in 
sleep, ’t is not for my sake, but to show you the power of 
Him that led me there to save you. Trust in God, Madam, 
and your honorable husband, and the thoughts for an old 
man like me can never be long nor bitter. I pray that 
the Lord will keep you in mind — the Lord that lives in 
clearings as well as in the wilderness — and bless you, and 
all that belong to you, from this time till the great day 
when the whites shall meet the redskins in judgment, and 
justice shall be the law, and not power.” 

Elizabeth raised her head and offered her colorless cheek 
to his salute, when he lifted his cap and touched it re- 
spectfully. His hand was grasped with convulsive fervor 
by the youth, who continued silent. The hunter prepared 
himself for his journey, drawing his belt tighter, and wast- 
ing his moments in the little reluctant movements of a 
sorrowful departure. Once or twice he essayed to speak, 
but a rising in his throat prevented it. At length he 
shouldered his rifle, and cried with a clear huntsman’s 
call that echoed through the woods : — 

“He-e-e-re, he-e-e-re, pups — away, dogs, away; ye’ll 
be footsore afore ye see the ind of the journey! ” 


478 


THE PIONEERS 


The hounds leaped from the earth at this cry, and scent- 
ing around the graves and the silent pair, as if conscious 
of their own destination, they followed humbly at the 
heels of their master. A short pause succeeded, during 
’which even the youth concealed his face on his grandfa- 
ther’s tomb. When the pride of manhood, however, had 
suppressed the feelings of nature, he turned to renew his 
entreaties, but saw that the cemetery was occupied only 
by himself and his wife. 

“ He is gone ! ” cried Effingham. 

Elizabeth raised her face, and saw the old hunter stand- 
ing, looking back for a moment, on the verge of the wood. 
As he caught their glances, he drew his hard hand hastily 
across his eyes again, waved it on high for an adieu, and 
uttering a forced cry to his dogs, who were crouching at 
his feet, he entered the forest. 

This was the last that they ever saw of the Leather- 
Stocking, whose rapid movements preceded the pursuit 
which Judge Temple both ordered and conducted. He 
had gone far towards the setting sun, — the foremost in 
that band of pioneers who are opening the way for the 
march of the nation across the continent. 


APPENDIX 


Note A. 

“The house itself, or the ‘lastly,’ was of stone ; large, square, and far 
from uncomfortable.” Page 32. 

The ideal mansion-house of Templeton had little actual resemblance 
to Otsego Hall on the exterior. The sketch given in “The Pioneers” 
was drawn rather from the better class of stone houses built by the early 
settlers in the valley of the Mohawk, some of which remain to the pre- 
sent day. 

Otsego Hall, for such was the name given by Judge Cooper to his 
village home, was built of bricks, made at the outlet of the lake. The 
walls* were of a solidity unusual in a new American village, being two 
feet in thickness; the windows were large, with deep window-seats; 
the entrance doors, front and rear, were also of unusual size for that 
day. The floors and beams were of solid forest oak. A large hall, as 
described in “The Pioneers,” filled the centre of the house, about fifty 
feet in length and twenty-four in width. The original furniture was 
much as Mr. Cooper has described it: “Here all is literal,” says the 
author of “The Pioneers,” “even to the severed arm of Wolfe, and the 
urn which held the ashes of Queen Dido.” At a later day at least one 
third of this hall was filled with plants; Mr. Cooper’s mother being pas- 
sionately fond of them, every member of the family returning from the 
civilized world at Albany, New York, or Philadelphia, was expected to 
bring her an offering of some choice flower, and in this way the room 
became a sort of greenhouse. A little incident connected with Mr. 
Cooper’s boyish recollection of this room may be given. One day, only 
a year or two before his death, after his head had grown gray, he sud- 
denly rose from his writing-table in the library, walked into the hall, 
and went up to the southwest corner of the room ; here he paused, looked 
up, seemed quite surprised, looked again, and then turning, with a smile, 
observed to one of his daughters that in his boyhood a clock had stood 
in that particular corner, fifty years earlier, and oddly enough, by a sort 
of mechanical action of the memory, he, now an old man, had left his 
writing and actually walked to the corner where the clock had stood, 
with the intention of consulting the old dial-plate as to the time of day. 
No clock had stood there for nearly half a century, and the whole aspect 
of the room had been entirely changed since thep. It was a singular 
vivid revival of childish memories, amid the intellectual labors of old 


480 


THE PIONEERS 


age. The wood-work of the rooms at Otsego Hall was originally painted 
in different colors, — straw-color, blue, gray, and red, — a fashion re- 
cently revived. There was nothing remarkable about the roof, but the 
portico with its stone steps and platform, and the columns upheld by the 
roof instead of supporting it, were sketched from reality, such having 
been at one period the condition of the porch. 

After the death of Mr. Cooper the house passed into the hands of 
strangers. Soon after it was destroyed by fire under circumstances 
which led to a dispute regarding the insurance. A village street now 
passes directly over the spot where that hearthstone lay. 

Note B. 

“The Reverend Mr. Grant.” Page 99. 

It has been supposed that the venerable Father Nash, the zealous, 
kindly missionary, whose name is revered by all who knew him, was 
the original of the Rev. Mr. Grant of “ The Pioneers.” This is entirely 
an error. In personal appearance, character, and manner the real mis- 
sionary and the fictitious clergyman of “The Pioneers” were widely 
different. Father Nash was a robust, hale, hearty, fearless man, full of 
faith, full of zeal, the happy husband of a most excellent, energetic 
woman, and surrounded with a thriving family, who all lived to grow 
up. In the severe hardships encountered by both there was indeed re- 
semblance. Those hardships were often very severe. We give a pas- 
sage from Bishop Chase’s “ Memoirs,” in which he speaks of a visit to 
Father Nash, in those early days: “ He lived in a cabin built of unhewn 
logs, with scarcely a pane of glass to let in light sufficient to read his 
Bible, and even this cabin was not his own, nor was he permitted to live 
in one for a long time together. A friend who came to see him,” the 
bishop, then a young clergyman, “ helped him to carry his little articles 
of crockery, holding one handle of the basket and Mr. Nash the other, 
and as they walked the road they talked of the things pertaining to the 
kingdom of God. He had not the means to move his substance from 
one cabin to another but with his own hands, assisted only by his wife 
and small children, and a passing missionary. Well does the writer re- 
member how the little one-roomed cabin looked as he entered it; its rude 
door hung on wooden hinges, creaking as they turned ; how joyful that 
good man was that he had been mindful to fetch a few nails, which he 
had used in the other cabin just left, for his comfort in this, now the 
receptacle of all his substance. These he drove into the logs with great 
judgment, choosing the place most appropriate for his hat, his coat, and 
other garments of himself and family. All this while his patient wife, 
directing the children to kindle the fire, prepared the food for — shall we 
say a stranger? No; but for one who by sympathy felt himself more 
their brother than by all the ties of nature, and who by the example set 
before him learned a lesson of inexpressible use to him all the days of 
his subsequent life.” 

Father Nash himself, in a letter speaking of that period of his life, 
says: “ I was the only minister for many years — happy years. I never 


APPENDIX 


481 


felt discouraged, neither did I feel alone. My wife was then living, a 
noble-spirited, sensible woman, who instead of feeling discouraged was 
the first to cheer me on in my arduous labors. The country was then 
comparatively a wilderness. Often she gave me one child, then got on 
the horse behind me with another in her arms, and thus we would go to 
public worship for a number of miles. She excelled in music, and I 
understood it well ; we were never confounded in that part of the ser- 
vice ; and when the congregation did not well understand how to make 
the responses, she always did it, in a solemn, dignified way.” 

Husband and wife now lie interred in the churchyard of Christ Church, 
Cooperstown, in ground shaded by two fine pines — a spot chosen by the 
good old missionary himself some years before his death. Father Nash 
was the first rector of Christ Church, Cooperstown. 

Note C. 

“ In the original plan.” Page 143. 

The plan originally adopted for the village on Lake Otsego was very 
different from what has since been carried out. The business street was 
intended to follow the western bank of the Susquehanna. It was to be 
a compactly built market-town, according to the English fashion, fol- 
lowed in the older villages of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Lancaster, 
in Pennsylvania, would appear to have been the model: — 

“ In towns compactly built there is a quicker circulation of sentiment 
and mutual convenience; each follows his own art without deviation, 
and becomes more perfect in it. There is more of emulation; a kind of 
city pride arises and acts advantageously upon the manners and modes 
of life ; better houses are built, more comforts introduced, and there is 
more civility and civilization. 

“ Villages and towns built on extensive lots, where the inhabitants are 
dispersed, never make much progress in trade. They have all the dis- 
advantages of towns, without their comforts and coqveniences. 

“Where the inhabitants are at a distance from each other there is less 
society, less useful communication upon subjects of common concern, 
such as the education of children and the like ; there is less polish of 
manners, more carelessness in dress and demeanor, and more languor 
and indifference in ever}' sort of improvement. The labor of two or 
three hundred industrious men concentrated is like money collected in a 
bank; when scattered in distant quarters its effects amount to little; 
when brought together it resembles the heart, from and to which circula- 
tion flows, while it gives life and health to the remotest extremes. A 
good instance of this is the town of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania ; without 
any one actual advantage, nor any that I can perceive other than that of 
being in the beginning compactly settled, it has risen to be the seventh in 
the Union in point of population and importance .” — Letter of Judge 
Cooper } 1805. 


482 


THE PIONEERS 


Note D. 

“ Squire Doolittle, you . . . know what is law, and what is not law.” 
Page 150. 

“It is to be regretted that a mischievous spirit of litigation should be 
encouraged by some of the justices, who, for the sake of a paltry fee, 
forget the great duty of their office, that of preserving peace, and that 
it should have increased, as it has done of late years, to a shameful ex- 
tent. I have known of more than one hundred precepts being issued in 
one day by some of the ‘ squires.’ A magistrate who becomes so ready 
an instrument in contention may be considered as a living calamity. 
Some, however, known to me, are of a different stamp. Such have car- 
ried the spirit of benevolence so far as to leave their own business and 
travel miles for the sake of reconciling parties and putting an end to 
quarrels, and have sought no other reward than the satisfaction felt in 
doing good. Sometimes proclamations are posted up in the country inns, 
notifying that by virtue of an execution issued at the office of A. B., the 
cow of John or the bed of Peter is to be sold on such a day. These pro- 
clamations serve to advertise the office of this trader in justice, and bring 
him in more practice, and also more custom to the tavern, for when the 
day of sale arrives eating and drinking are of course. Here, of those 
who have not credit, payment is demanded, another dispute arises, and 
another suit is commenced ; and time and money are wasted, which, if 
well employed, would have added to the comfort of the family, and 
increased the stock of the farm. 

“ Where religious establishments prevail, there is more forbearance 
and more accommodation. The magistrate catches the tone and temper 
of the society, and is a useful member of it. Upon such institutions 
then depend in a great measure the destruction of the vices here men- 
tioned; and it will be the certain result of those establishments, unless 
the spirit of party should run too high, and prevent the election of men 
whose motives will be in their honest pride of character, and in the feel- 
ings of conscience and duty.” — Letter of Judge Cooper , 1805. 

Note E. 

The Otsego Bass. 

“The world has no better fish than the bass of Otsego; it unites the 
richness of the shad to the firmness of the salmon.” Page 268. 

The Otsego Bass: Coregonus Otsego, — Salmo Otsego. This fish has 
been thought peculiar to Otsego Lake. “It is,” says Dr. DeHav, 
“among fishes what grouse and canvas-back duck are among game. 
The flesh is firm, white, and delicate. It is never caught with the 
hook, but 5,000 have been taken at one draught of the seine.” This 
was very early in the history of the village. Lake Otsego is now rich 
in pickerel, which were introduced from Canaderaga Lake. Formerly 
this fish was unknown in the Otsego. One fisherman lately caught 
2,000 pickerel in three months, from October 1 to January 1. 


APPENDIX 


483 


There is an association in Cooperstown, called the Village Improve- 
ment Society, whose name explains its objects. Among other tasks, 
it has undertaken to preserve the fish in the lake. Nothing could well 
exceed the wanton recklessness with which the noble bass peculiar to 
Lake Otsego has been destroyed in past years. Not satisfied with put- 
ting the bass under legal protection, the Improvement Society is now 
aiming at increasing their numbers. They have established a “hatch- 
ing-house” for the purpose. The work began in December, 1871, when 
at least 1,000,000 of bass eggs were on the wire trays in the troughs. 
The eggs died at the rate of five or six thousand a day. On the 10th 
of February, 1872, there were 560,000 living eggs in the house in good 
condition, the tiny fish visible. On the 3d of March the first bass were 
hatched, after eighty-four days in the house. In one hundred and fif- 
teen days all were hatched. In the months of March and April, 1872, 
these tiny fish were placed in the lake, 74,000 bass, and 6,500 trout with 
them. 

What would Natty have thought of this novel process of “hatching” 
fish by the hundred thousand ! We fancy we can see his silent laugh 
from across the lake, where he stands leaning on his rifle. 


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